Council awaits legal advice for trash vote

According to Mayor Winslow Burhans III, leaders are waiting to hear back from the town's attorney regarding the ordinance's language.

The Town Council may revisit the ordinance later this week, or it may wait until September for a vote.

"It depends on when we get it back from the attorney," he said.

The proposed ordinance would make recycling mandatory in the town and set a limit of the amount of trash each customer could set out at the curb at 70 gallons per household or business.

Leaders want the ordinance in place to reduce the amount of trash New Market residents and businesses are sending to the Frederick County landfill, which had been an average of 55 tons per week per person, well over the Frederick County average of 40 tons.

The ordinance defines "household trash" – waste generated by cooking or preparing food – as the only thing that can be disposed of in the 70 gallons. All other materials, such as recyclables or construction trash, have to be disposed of separately.

The reason for the limit is simple – it costs money to move trash, and the more trash hauled the more money it costs. At the beginning of July, Frederick County charged a fee of $80.20 per ton to dispose of trash, and the town's budget for fiscal 2009 was set to deal with a possible increase in tipping fees because of rising gas costs.

However, Frederick County's tipping fees are going down.

According to Frederick County's Web site, the county is expected to reduce tipping fees in September, from the current rate of $79 per ton for municipal trash to $78.40 per ton.

The price will still be $10 higher than it was in May, at $68.47.

Burhans said that the ordinance, which had already been before a public hearing, may take a back seat to an agreement with the developer of Royal Oaks. Under the agreement, the developer would grant road access for the construction of athletic fields to serve members of the Linganore Urbana Youth Athletic Association in exchange for guarantees on the completion of the development.

Burhans said that he wanted to introduce the agreement as soon as possible – he hoped to have a public hearing set for September – so that the fields could be constructed as soon as possible.

"There are 3,000 LUYAA families, there are quite a few of whom are town residents that benefit from this," he wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette.