Chad Dunbar Bowling Tournament to be held tomorrow
byFranklin High students promote organ donation
Franklin, MA
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Franklin switched to a single-stream system in July under which residents combine paper, cardboard, glass and cans into a new 65-gallon container. Residents also received a new trash container.
The town borrowed $800,000 to buy both the trash and recycling containers, a cost that will mostly be paid off by user fees.
The grant reimburses Franklin for about 20 percent of the $400,000 cost for the recycling containers, helping the town repay that money sooner without raising fees, Department of Public Works Director Robert Cantoreggi said.
Since the switch, the amount of material recycled has increased by 15 percent while the amount of trash has decreased by more than 18 percent, a trend Cooper said has been seen in many of the 70 Massachusetts communities that have adopted single-stream recycling programs since 2005.
Franklin is expected to save more than $100,000 in disposal costs and earn $20,000 in new recycling revenue this fiscal year, statistics provided by Cooper's department show.
"We want to ... really focus on what we think will make the biggest impact with the town," said Chairman Douglas Hardesty.
Hardesty presented a list of priorities he compiled from brainstorming sessions with the current committee and items the previous Long Range Financial Planning Committee was unable to fully evaluate.
The list includes projecting and evaluating retirement benefits, the high school project, the tax burden, efforts to change state legislation and road and other capital investments.
"We want to take a problem and say (to the council or School Committee) here's your portfolio of options," committee member Greg DiMarzio said.
The previous committee, comprised mostly of elected officials, produced a report that explained the town faced a structural deficit in which revenue growth was less than what was required to maintain services. They projected that, through 2014, expenses would grow faster than revenue by $7 million to 10 million.Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1336254064/Franklin-long-range-board-debates-future-emphasis#ixzz1KoD482Ra