CHINA — Voters on Saturday gave the town’s Select Board the go-ahead to sign a 15-year agreement to send the town’s municipal trash to a proposed waste-to-gas plant in Hampden, one of a number of issues voters tackled during Town Meeting, which was held at China Middle School.
Residents debated nearly every issue on the 36-article town warrant and attempted numerous amendments during the meeting, which lasted more than five hours. Every article eventually passed with overwhelming support.
Voters approved a $2.19 million municipal budget and increased financial support for the China Region Lakes Alliance to fund water quality improvement programming. Voters also authorized the Select Board to negotiate an agreement with neighboring Palermo to use the China transfer station.
One of the last articles debated by voters gave members of the Select Board the authorization to sign an agreement to remain part of the Municipal Review Committee, a nonprofit representing the solid waste disposal interests of more than 180 Maine communities, and agree to send the town’s rubbish to a factory that would process it into biomethane. The plant is proposed by Maryland-based company Fiberight.
China, like the other towns and cities represented by MRC, sends its solid waste to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington, where it is burned to produce electricity. The town has a 30-year agreement with PERC that expires in 2018, the same time that the company’s agreement to sell electricity to Emera Maine at above-market rates also expires.
At that time, the incinerator no longer will be economically viable, and fees to dispose of trash there will increase, MRC Executive Director Greg Lounder told residents at the meeting.
In order to provide a place to send trash after that point, the MRC has partnered with Fiberight to build a new plant that will convert waste to natural gas.
Lounder told residents that the plant is on track to go online by the time the contract with PERC expires at the end of March 2018, but the timeline is tight.
In order for the plan to work financially, the MRC and Fiberight need enough towns and cities to commit by May to send at least 150,000 tons annually to the new plant. So far, more than 50 communities have committed roughly 64,000 tons, he added.
While some Select Board members and residents spoke favorably of the MRC-Fiberight proposal, Selectwoman Joann Austin said the board still was weighing its options and would select the proposal that made the most sense for the town. “This is an option for the board to consider. We will decide yes or no on that,” she said. If the board decides to go with a different option, it will be brought back to residents for a vote, she added.
Voters further aired concerns about a possible agreement that would open the China transfer station to residents from Palermo, which is ending a contract with a Union-based solid waste disposal association in October.
Residents authorized the board to negotiate an agreement but said they were worried that a new influx of customers at the transfer station could exacerbate bottlenecks at the station’s busiest times and voiced concern that a large amount of new waste coming into the station could increase costs for the town.
Town Manager Dan L’Heureux said no details of the agreement have been worked out, but officials from the two towns were trying to find a mutually beneficial solution that would reduce costs for Palermo while generating additional revenue for China.
Almost every budget article was approved as the Select Board and the Budget Committee recommended, except a $5,000 increase in annual funding provided to the China Region Lakes Alliance, an area environmental group focused on improving and maintaining water quality in area lakes. The total amount approved by voters was $30,000, the same amount the town gave the organization last year.
CRLA President Scott Pierz said the organization planned to go back to basics in the future by helping lakeside residents prevent water runoff that could degrade the quality of the lake and continue its courtesy boat inspection program to stop invasive plants from entering area lakes.
The group also is working with statewide partners on an initiative to restore seasonal alewife migration into China Lake by removing or bypassing a series of dams on Outlet Stream in Vassalboro. Alewives could help improve water quality in China Lake, Pierz said, and CRLA and its partners have raised roughly $400,000 toward the total $2 million project cost.
Residents also learned of the town’s hiring of four part-time police officers to provide policing services for the town under a rotation. The town has not increased its budget for police services.
Voters also debated China’s policy for using money from its Tax Increment Financing district. Some asked why the town used money intended for economic development to pay for administration. Town officials defended the practice, stating the $6,000 in TIF funding reflected the amount of time and resources the town staff has dedicated to economic development activities.
China residents last year approved a TIF to shelter new tax revenue generated by a power line upgrade by Central Maine Power Co. The town collects about $260,000 a year from the TIF, which can be used for economic development projects approved by the state.
The town is using some of its TIF money to pay for things such as China Community Days, contributions to CRLA and the town’s $38,000 payment to the Kennebec Regional Development Authority. Residents also approved appropriating $50,000 from the fund to help pay for economic development programs proposed to the Select Board by the town’s Tax Increment Finance Committee.
Peter McGuire — 861-9239
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