With one municipality left to approve or kill a merger of Aroostook County’s two landfills, advocates of the deal say it makes sense.
The Fort Fairfield Town Council could make or break the deal to merge the Presque Isle Landfill and Tri-Community Landfill, the latter owned by Caribou, Fort Fairfield and Limestone.
The city councils of Presque Isle and Caribou and the voters of Limestone have approved the merger, and the Fort Fairfield council will vote Dec. 20 on whether or not to go along, after a public hearing on the issue.
The boards of the two landfills have been working on crafting a merger agreement for more than a year, with the goal of making a combined organization more efficient and solving the financial problems associated with two landfills serving a small population.
But the deal has been met with skepticism and concern from some in Fort Fairfield who view the proposal as a power grab by Presque Isle and say they’re happy with the Tri-Community facility as it is.
“Why does the Tri-Community want to merge with Presque Isle’s landfill system?” asked Fort Fairfield resident Robert Novak, at the Oct. 18 Fort Fairfield Town Council meeting. “How could merging with an inefficient and expensive system make a currently viable one better?”
Although fees at the two landfills vary based on a person’s residence and the type and amount of waste, Novak said that Fort Fairfield residents pay about $16 a month for their garbage to be hauled to the Tri-Community Landfill while Presque Isle residents pay upwards of $30.
If Fort Fairfield approves the merger, the boards of the two landfills will take a vote on a finalized agreement. While some details still remain to be agreed upon, the merger agreement calls for phasing out and closing the Presque Isle landfill. It also calls for Presque Isle to pay Caribou, Fort Fairfield and Limestone a shared $2 million over 8 years for liability costs related to the closure.
Fort Fairfield town manager Jim Risner said he’s going to recommend that the Town Council approve the merger.
“I believe a merger between the Tri-Community Recycling and Sanitary Landfill (TCL) and the city of Presque Isle is in the best interest of the citizens of Fort Fairfield,” Risner said via email.
“As a member of the TCL board of directors, I believe the merger is in the best interest of TCL and central Aroostook County.”
In Presque Isle, city councillors and officials said they also think the merger would be good for the region as a whole and would help bring down costs for everyone.
“If we keep having both entities trying to survive, it’s just going to be a race to the bottom,” said Presque Isle city manager Martin Puckett. “Us working together means we remove a duplication of resources. There’s economies of scale with this and there’s going to be a reduction in the costs of solid waste for all involved.”
Maine has seven landfills in the whole state, Puckett noted. “There’s two in Aroostook County less than 20 miles apart. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
City Council Chair Emily Smith said she thinks making the landfill merger work is a good opportunity.
“Solid waste is one thing that is heavily-regulated. It’s expensive. There are a lot of environmental concerns,” Smith said. “But it’s something that regionally we can do together that makes sense and is smart. And it should potentially lead the way for the regionalization that the whole county needs in a lot of different areas.”
