Does your town have these fees? (Auburn, Calais: coupons, appliances, house)

[shadowfax1997]

I got pretty angry this morning when I went to the transfer station with brush and some odds/ends trash. My town pays with coupons - 1000 lbs trash for $5. I find out that my town is out of this transfer station ( it is in next town over ). So - stating july, we have to pay per pound to drop trash. We currently have curbside fr household trash. 7.5 cents per pound for items like brush, scrap wood, etc. I have already sent complaints to the board of selectmen.

So I browse through the list of fees my town charges for various items. Would you believe we charge a $25 fee to move within town? and a 30 cents / sq. ft fee when you move into town? Whatha?

I haven't been particularly involved with town government, but that is changing. I will be attending some meetings and doing some complaining. We are way past bad when the town charges you to move.

[flycessna]

Yes, here in auburn you pay to drop off debris..I have never done so so IDk what they charge. fee's taxes ect...its all the same..more or less!

The money has to come from somewhere. Here in Auburn when residence complained about their taxes...the town dropped spring clean-up week. Now as a citizen, that is probably the only town sevice I use and enjoy...what a benifit...well some people complained and the clean up is back!

Don't just look at what they are charging for, look at where it is being spent! politicians always seem to avoid where the real fat is (too many dept heads, redundancy, ect. ect.) and want to cut where it will cause the most pain so people will be like..ok ok..go ahead and raise my taxes.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I never heard of such shenanigans in Northern Maine. That must be something they do down south. It wouldn't happen here because the citizens would not stand for it. We do limit the number of old tires you can drop off in any one trip to the dump.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997;

... My town pays with coupons - 1000 lbs trash for $5.

... sta[r]ting july, we have to pay per pound to drop trash.

We currently have curbside fr household trash. 7.5 cents per pound

... a $25 fee to move within town?

... a 30 cents / sq. ft fee when you move into town?

... We are way past bad when the town charges you to move.

No. We pay none of that here.

Our $1.05 per acre per year property taxes covers the school districts, and curbside pickup of trash.

Our trash must be 'sealed' so wild varmits don't get into it. But there is no per pound limit; no number of container limit. No recycling either.

No fees to move here.

A neighbor might bring you a casserole.

We have seen folks using our driveway as a latrine, figured it was their way of welcoming us to the township.

I have never taken anything to a landfill to drop off, so I dont know if they charge or not. I see folks with open pits in the ground where they bury their old appliances and stuff, maybe heap it over with brush for a bonfire, before filling it in with dirt.

[dmyankee]

We pay a flat $15 fee for the demo pile now. I drop all my white goods and metal at the local scrap dealer. Tires tend to disappear after sunset. Can't burn the woodpile at the dump any longer. Roadside pickup still covered by local taxes.

We have lost the battle with the State and have to work on a full blown transfer station soon.

Holy mil rate Batman! The price you pay to live in Paradise these days!

[AustinB]

We have the Blue Hill transfer station. No charges per bag of trash, and they don't check to see what is in the bags.

There is a charge for tvs,etc., so it's good that they don't check the bags.

demo and white metals there are charges for. Never have used the 'dump' for these services, since I have enough land to 'store' a few things on.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

We still use our burn pile in town. Some folks don't want to burn their brush in the back yard so they bring it to the dump. We issue fire permits to those do-it-yourselfers who want to burn brush at home. It has to be a rainy day or just following a rainy day.

[Valley Living]

We pay for every bag we bring to the recycling center. $1.00 per bag, no charge for wood, cardboard, certain plastics, metal. I pay about $10.00 every three weeks with a family of 5. I find it quite expensive considering we pay taxes on everything that was listed above as well. If you change your roofing on your house you are charged $15.00 per square at the dump just to get rid of the old stuff! Crazy!

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by Valley Living

We pay for every bag we bring to the recycling center. $1.00 per bag, no charge for wood, cardboard, certain plastics, metal. I pay about $10.00 every three weeks with a family of 5. I find it quite expensive considering we pay taxes on everything that was listed above as well. If you change your roofing on your house you are charged $15.00 per square at the dump just to get rid of the old stuff! Crazy!

This is a very good reason to stop using asphalt for roofing. Can you imagine what it will cost to dump the shingles that are being installed now, when in twenty five years they need to be replaced again.

IF one square costs $15 to dispose of, that will equal just about $150 per ton, at 230lb/sq of asphalt shingles. That's very expensive.

[Elcarim]

What I don't get about our town is that, even though we are inside the city limits of Calais, we have no plowing or trash pick up on our lane. IN town, they do. And I'm pretty sure the properties here are taxed according to city limit rates. So.......we have to use the transfer station and pay $1.50/blue bag for household trash. The things we recycle are free, and they do have an extensive recycling program, which is great. They also allow dumping of larger items for "per drop" fees, ie. TVs cost $5 to drop off, etc.

But, inside the city limits with city limit rates, rules and taxes = NO city services? Not fair.