September 18, 2017 Middletown Township Committee Meeting: It's All About Garbage

At the September 18th meeting of the Middletown Township Committee, a resolution that would include all of the township into the garbage collection district was presented for public input. This means that all of the homes in town will have their garbage and recycles collected by one company and there will no longer be private collection, which means that there will be some winners and losers when this resolution goes into effect on January 1st, 2018.

The cost for garbage collection will be included in the property taxes of all resident s that live outside of the current garbage district; Some of these residents pay as little as $67 per quarter now and will see a sharp increase in their garbage fees, while others will see moderate increases.  Those on the governing body however, say that those increases will be offset by the fact that those currently living outside of the garbage collection district, will no longer need to pay out of pocket for bulk garbage disposal, which will save them out of pocket expenses if they have large items like furniture or appliances to throw out.

M&S Waste Services, a company that has been hauling garbage in Middletown for 57 years, created a big controversy when they announced to residents that this change was going to take place. As a result.

It seems that this decision was made "behind" closed doors and in secrecy. It wasn't going to be addressed during the meeting that night until word got out; It was a last minute addition to the agenda.

On Tuesday (on the day after the meeting), the township announced the change to garbage pick-up to residents on its website.

The discussion of the resolution begins at 38 minutes into the meeting for those interested in hearing the details.

And for those that live outside of the garbage districts, who wish to know how much this change will cost them, the tax rate for waste collection is currently .0065 per $100 of assessed home value. So for those living in the more affluent sections of Middletown, you can expect to be paying much more for your waste disposal.



As always you can download a copy of the Meeting Agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars.