LAKE PLACID - The town of North Elba board is considering a local law that would prohibit garbage and recycling produced inside the town from being transported outside the town for disposal.
The law, which would also require the sorting of recyclable materials collected within the town, was the subject of a public hearing prior to Tuesday night's regular board meeting.
Town Supervisor Roby Politi said the town loses revenue when waste generated inside the town is taken elsewhere.
"We are working hard to provide better services for this community," Politi said. "We'd like to generate additional revenues that are used to enhance that facility."
But local hauler Casella Waste Services said bringing the material to the North Elba transfer station would be too costly.
"This is a large burden; it's a big number," Skip Bissonette, of Casella Waste Services, told the town board.
The company currently brings its waste to the Clinton County landfill for $68 per ton. The North Elba transfer station charges $140 per ton. Bissonette said that even with the extra cost of transporting the waste significantly farther, it is still cheaper to bring it to Clinton County.
"We don't intend to charge you any more than any other person who goes through our facility," Politi said.
The board took no action on the local law and agreed to meet with representatives from Casella about the law.
"We need to have an open dialogue," Bissonette said.
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PILOT with ComLinks
In other news, the town board unanimously agreed to renew a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement with a ComLinks housing facility on WesValley Road.
The agreement, made in 1998, had the non-profit company paying $8,000 a year - $3,600 for 12 units and another $4,400 for 11 others - to the town. That 10-year agreement expired in December 2008. Brian Cassini, of ComLinks, asked the board Tuesday night to extend the agreement for another five years.
Cassini said the rent-restricted affordable housing facility lost about $23,000 last year because of increasing expenses. He said the facility is run at nearly 100 percent occupancy, with most of the residents from Essex County.
"I think it speaks to the need of this program," Cassini said.
If the town assessed the property, it would get nothing. Kirk Gagnier, a Tupper Lake lawyer who accompanied Cassini, explained that, because of a change in the tax law, government-funded housing projects are assessed based on their income. Since ComLinks lost money last year, it would be assessed at zero.
"We want to enter an extended agreement based on good faith," Gagnier said.
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Enhanced Web site
The town board also unanimously approved a motion to spend $5,000 with Ad Workshop to improve the town's Web site.
"We need a more professional site," Politi said.
The upgraded Web site will be used, among other things, to market the town-owned Craig Wood Golf Course.
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River Road spring OK
Politi announced that results came back negative on a test of a spring on a dirt road off of River Road.
"That spring is clean," Politi said.
He said the water-purity test was prompted by the closure of King Phillip's Spring, near exit 30 on the Adirondack Northway, by the the state Department of Environmental Conservation, because of high coliform levels.