EDITOR: I see the Democrat candidates for Bedminster Township Committee, Jacob Caplan and Denise King, are touting town-wide garbage pickup as part of their campaign platform.
I suspect they believe that by instituting trash collection as a township service, residents should be able to realize economy of scale savings. Sounds reasonable, right? Unfortunately, the devil is in the details.
The problem with this proposal is that many of us have already independently contracted for trash pick-up, either individually or as a member of a neighborhood association. This arrangement allows residents to tailor the level of service, and thereby cost, to their needs. An individual or couple in a small condo probably doesn’t generate the same volume of trash as a large family.
I have been a resident in Bedminster since 2007. I have had the liberty to change my garbage disposal service when I wanted to, no different than changing my car insurance company. When I wanted better service and/or price, I shopped around and found what suited my family’s needs.
My wife and I grew up in Middlesex County, we also lived in Ocean County before moving to Bedminster. In those cases, we had municipal trash collection. No choice, one size, service at best effort, and rising costs that reflected higher taxes which grew periodically.
By way of another example, my friends live in a town that recently added trash pick-up as a township service – and raised their taxes accordingly. Prior to the conversion, they were paying an independent contractor a modest monthly fee for a small container. Once the township began providing the service, they were assigned a huge container that two elderly people couldn’t fill in a month of Sundays. Their cost went up accordingly, nearly doubling what they had been paying previously.
Therein lies the problem with these one size fits all approaches. You lose the ability to control your own destiny, and often wind up subsidizing your neighbors. Unless you can meter usage, as is the case with utilities, you ultimately pay for someone else’s trash.
I’d much rather support competition among multiple providers, who are incented to meet my individual needs and allow me to directly control my costs. Competition promotes better pricing and better service and puts the freedom of choice back in the consumer instead of the ever-increasing costs that will be reflected in our tax bills.
My neighborhood is filled with different trash cans from different garbage disposal companies. All making their choices on their own, for their needs, without being told how it will work with no choices of change.
I urge residents of Bedminster to consider the implications of supporting any proposal that takes the decision-making authority away from the homeowner or condo association.
I’m voting for Larry Jacobs and Renee Mareski on Nov. 6, and I urge the residents of Bedminster to do the same.
ROBERTO FRAGASSI
Bedminster Township