A J.P. Mascaro and Sons trash truck.

POTTSTOWN PA – A number of Lower Pottsgrove property owners already think of paying for trash collection as throwing money away, but they may be unaware just how much cash gets figuratively hauled to the dump annually.

During 2011, according to explanations that accompany next year’s tentative general fund budget, the township expects to pay a total of $836,139 to Norristown-based hauler J.P. Mascaro and Sons for its collection services. They include once-weekly trash pick-up, weekly recycling pick-up, and monthly leaf pick-up for 3,016 household units.

That amounts to $274.94 per unit, enough for 11 bags of groceries at $25 per bag, or about 94 gallons of gasoline at today’s (Friday, Nov. 26, 2010) pumped rate of $2.93 per gallon, or $1.77 per bag of trash … assuming Mascaro collects three bags from each unit weekly over 52 weeks.

The line item for “solid waste / trash collection fee” is part of the budget package on which the Board of Commissioners expects to vote, and probably will approve, during December. The budget itself carries no property tax increase, commissioners have proudly proclaimed, but they also acknowledge that trash collection fees will rise $12 per unit next year if the budget is accepted “as is.”

Each unit will be billed in 2011 at the rate of $142, to be collected in two semi-annual payments of $71 each. However, that’s only 51 percent of the actual cost of trash collection.

The township subsidizes the rest in its budget. Michele Christman, one of two township bookkeepers – who at this time of year also merits the title “finance director” – estimates the deficit between what Lower Pottsgrove bills for trash services and what it may actually pay could run as high as $441,000.

Next year’s subsidy in the balanced tentative budget is only $410,000, so apparently savings are anticipated to be wrung from somewhere. Still, it represents 7.5 percent of the overall $5.39 million spending plan. Historically, the township budgeted $290,000 for 2008, and paid out $310,652; $290,000 for 2009 as well, and paid even more, $325,471; and in the current year it budgeted $375,100 but is projected to spend slightly less, at $370,000.

It will cost Lower Pottsgrove $15,000 just to send out next year’s trash bills, budget notes indicate. And, yes, some of them will end up in the trash. A small percentage of those billed try to skip on payment, and the township takes enforcement action against them.

Lower Pottsgrove’s five-year contract with Mascaro, which ends next year, has been a source of irritation to some in the township.

Businessman and township resident Mike Murray, managing partner of MJ Murray Associates, last week commented on a related Post article and said “It amazes me how we continue to pay higher trash rates for less and worse service. Cans are thrown all over, trash is dropped consistently, and half the time they pick up only what they feel like.”

And township resident William Wolfgang, whose household is small and recycles heavily, during October told commissioners that “getting rid of garbage is just costing too much.” Rather than $1.77 per trash bag, Wolfgang guesses his actual cost is about $4. ““I think that’s an awful amount to be paying for garbage,” he said.

Related (to Lower Pottsgrove Township’s 2011 budget):

• Garbage Claims 7.5% Of Lower Pottsgrove’s Budget
• No Change In Town’s 2011 Base Tax Rate, But Bills To Rise Slightly
• State of Lower Pottsgrove’s Budget? Hurting, Not Wounded
• Pass The Excedrin. It’s Budget Time In Lower Pottsgrove