Red Bank Catholic and St. James Elementary School are about to see their trash-removal costs rise.
Red Bank is tightening its fiscal belt, and non-profits that generate more trash than the typical household are about to feel the pinch.
Last night, the mayor and council introduced a proposed ordinance change that would require any non-profit that puts out more than two household-sized barrels of trash for each of the twice-weekly pickups to make private collection arrangements.
The move, which is expected to have a significant impact on the St. James School/Red Bank Catholic High School complex on Broad Street and Peters Place, should save the borough roughly $50,000 a year in dumping fees at the Monmouth County landfill, says Mayor Pasquale Menna.
The change reflects both the borough’s increasingly tigh fiscal circumstances and a gnawing unease in recent years about Red Bank’s hosting of numerous not-for-profit entities, which contribute little or nothing to the town’s coffers through property taxes.
Officials have complained in recent years that the borough carries more tax-exempt properties on its books than nearly all other Monmouth County towns but does not get fairly compensated by the county for the benefits those entities provide to non-borough residents.
It also reflects a new recycling tax of $3 per ton of waste imposed by the state, said borough chief financial officer Frank Mason.
The trash-pickup amendment does not apply to public schools. Riverview Medical Center, the borough’s largest tax-exempt constituent, provides for its own trash removal.
Menna said he had not spoken in advance about the change with officials at St. James Church.
