Yorktown’s Garbage Mess Was Highly Predictable From the Start
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
The Yorktown Town Board, comprised entirely of Republican members, recently granted a huge tax abatement to Unicorn Contracting related to its development at the Soundview property at the intersection of Underhill Road and Route 118.
The merits of offering an abatement to a developer whose project stands to earn millions and whose proposed development will create new costs to the town in terms of roadway infrastructure and congestion are highly debatable.
But on the heels of the disastrous garbage contract this board awarded to Competitive Carting, the decision feels more like a “friends-and-family” deal than something that benefits the town, its residents or our pocketbooks!
I’m sure we all remember the catastrophic start to the year with Competitive Carting. Garbage sat for days, spilling out onto the roadways. At first, I wanted to cut them a break and write off the tough start to being a new company. But it turns out that the company isn’t even new. The fiasco was completely predictable – and the contract much more costly to taxpayers. (I’m a Democrat, in case that hasn’t been clear, but that doesn’t mean I want to pay more taxes. And I want my taxes used efficiently, not for the purpose of one hand washing the other.)
The contract with Competitive is beyond incompetent. After unilaterally ending the town’s relationship with our previous contractor, the town decided to pay the new guys $3.5 million in 2023 – a whopping 70 percent increase over the $1.365 million paid in 2022 (and 40 percent higher than the budgeted 2022 cost of $2.05 million).
The town expects to collect an extra $1.3 million in taxes this year – exactly enough to offset the higher cost of garbage collection awarded to Competitive.
Competitive, by the way, is anything but competitive. The previous incarnation of Competitive was Competition (also approved by Michael Grace as then-town supervisor), and the owners previously had a contract revoked by the county for failure to pay workers’ benefits and later filed for bankruptcy. This is what I meant when I said the fiasco was predictable. A cynic would say that this is a form of corporate welfare.
And if you check the Board of Elections records you find that the Committee to Elect Michael J. Grace – ID #21397 received about $8,000 from Competition Carting (under various pseudonyms).
Truth is, the Yorktown Town Board is offering friends-and-family favors at the expense of residents who are left with higher tax bills and services that are, frankly, garbage.
Yorktown should elect people who truly represent our interests on Nov. 7 – not the pocketbooks of their friends and families.
Michael Hickins
Yorktown
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