More Than One Way To Eliminate A Special District

Village Trashes Town Of Hempstead Sanitation In Favor Of Less Expensive Private Carter

Ashes to ashes. Or was that, Village of Valley Stream to Jamaica Ash?

Yes, after 25 years -- that's a quarter of a century, for anyone left in Hempstead Town who can still count -- the Village of Valley Stream had contracted with the Town of Hempstead for refuse disposal services. [SEE Refuse Disposal District on your property tax bill.]

No more.

Someone finally figured out that it would be more cost effective to have that garbage hauled away by someone else. So, out went a formal Request For Proposal (RFP), and, what do you know, it wasn't the township that was going to provide the most cost efficient service.

So much for residents "enjoying" paying twice as much for garbage collection as they do for police protection.

Other incorporated villages, including Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Freeport, Garden City, Malverne and Rockville Centre , are also reported to be looking elsewhere (other than the Town of Hempstead's Refuse Disposal District) for more cost-efficient means of taking out the garbage.

Look for residents in the township's unincorporated areas to do likewise with respect to the overpriced sanitary districts, once the recently passed measure giving residents say in comsolidating "local government" becomes law.

We can hear Town of Hempsteaders now -- "Eat garbage, Kate Murray!"

Ahhhh. Disolve two local governments, and don't bother to call us in the morning! To taxpayers, what a relief.
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From the Valley Stream Herald:

Garbage deal smells good for villageNew disposal company chosen as contract with town is set to end
By ANTHONY BOTTAN

After 25 years of having the Town of Hempstead dispose of the village's trash and process it in Westbury, Valley Stream has signed a five-year contract with Jamaica Ash and Rubbish to remove the 17,000 tons of garbage it produces each year. The move will save the village about $250,000 over the life of the contract, village officials said.

According to Village Clerk Vinny Ang, the contract with the Town of Hempstead for sanitation pickup ends on Aug. 9. What [the town] proposed would have cost us hundreds of thousands more, Ang said. The contract with Jamaica Ash and Rubbish is for five years with an option for five more.

The problems with the town garbage contract began a few years after villages signed on in 1984. When the town signed a garbage disposal contract with American Ref-Fuel in 1988 the plant that Covanta purchased in 2005 each village was charged a basic fee based on a minimum tonnage of refuse it was expected to produce. Once recycling became prevalent, however, villages fell below their minimum tonnages, because items that were once included with regular garbage, such as newspapers and grass clippings, were now disposed of separately. Villages found themselves paying for garbage they weren't dumping.

Village sanitation Supervisor Wayne Mustrangelo said the search for a new trash removal vendor began about two years ago. Seven southwestern Nassau County villages Valley Stream, Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Freeport, Garden City, Malverne and Rockville Centre created a coalition, Mustrangelo said, and hired a consultant to detail the precise disposal and recycling needs of each village. Armed with that information, the coalition put out a joint Request for Proposals, to find a garbage contractor.

It wasn't long, however, before Valley Stream officials decided to put out their own RFP, Mustrangelo said, believing they could get a better deal on their own. He explained that Valley Stream has a unique garbage situation that is unlike those of the other villages. It has its own compactor and transfer station, which compacts solid waste, which is then hauled out by an intermediary company to Covanta. While other villages must truck their trash to a transfer site elsewhere, where it is picked up and brought to a dump site, Valley Stream garbage trucks must only bring trash to the village transfer station. If we went with the other municipalities and pooled together and had one vendor take it out, the price might have been different, Mustrangelo said. The issue is, we have a unique situation. Our eight trucks don't have to go to Covanta. We wanted to keep our transfer station.

Jamaica Ash and Rubbish already hauls village trash from the village's transfer site to Covanta, Mustrangelo said. That company was the lowest bidder for the new contract, and it agreed to take the village's solid waste, bulk material and recyclables. We opted with them because when we did the numbers, they were the cheapest per ton, he said. Between hauling and all, it's a significant savings for the village. The village saved money by not going through the Town of Hempstead. They had high rates, and we would still be responsible to haul our trash to Covanta.Mayor Ed Cahill said he was pleased with Jamaica Ash's price, adding that the arrangement worked out well for the village, since the company already knows the village's operations.

We did a lot of field work, and Jamaica Ash came back with the best deal, Cahill said. It was a better deal for us. We're ahead of the game because we have a compactor and transfer station. We can bring our garbage down there and transfer it, too, where other villages will have to haul their garbage to a transfer station.

Comments about this story? ABottan@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 246.

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