“A place where Ideology reigns over money”? Or, “Scott Dunn’s Taj Mahal” (Scott Dunn being the Town Administrator and the main pusher for Gilford’s new Recycle Center / Transfer Station.
Sigh…and now the bill has has come due. But not the one you might think.
In the beginning, it sounded OK – time to leave the compact with Laconia that allowed Gilford residents to “co-use” their facility. And Town of Gilford would offset part of the cost of using it. So, perhaps some savings there. The problem is that, three years ago, China decided to no longer be the recipient of the world’s trash recyclables. What happened was similar to the Middle East’s reaction to the US support of the 1972 Israeli War – the valve was closed shut. Then, it was about oil and getting it in (sidenote: and just a few weeks before I got my license – gas prices soared as far as a high schooler with a part time job was concerned).
Now, it’s about getting paid for trash – the market disappeared almost as fast as the Left’s good will of actor Donald Trump once he became President Trump.
And yet, the town has now spent $1.3 million on a site that was called the “stump dump”. The first tranche was for $900K back in 2017. And then we were told “well, we screwed up – we need more.” Next tranche was for $400k. Both by warrant articles. Yet my requests to Dunn, while in BudComm meetings, for detailed business plans with financial projections went nowhere. All I got was “there will always be a market, it will always be there”. While I voted against both warrants (and during the town voting) and made it clear that the market will be low to non-existent for years because of China doing it’s shutdown, there were those on the BudComm that were gung ho to do it, voted for it, with exclamations of “Recycling will ALWAYS be with us!” in almost religious tones.
And now we’re about to see not only that the offering plate was passed and our money hoovered onto it, we’re now about to see the other kind of sacrifice that will be required. Yep, you’re being told to just jump up on that altar and get ready for what comes next. And it has as the Selectmen have now emailed out a draft of the coming “rules”.
As I read them, all I could think of “Bait and switch” and “I’m now an involuntary Taj Mahal employee?”. The first is illegal in the private sector and Government goes after those that use that use that technique. IMHO, now Government is doing it – to me. As to the second, it’s clear from their own materials that AFTER PROVIDING $1.3 Million up front, it will be required for me to do the Town’s job.
Let’s step through the numbers that we on the BudComm were given this year:
| Estimated | Actual | |
| 2018 | $250,000 | $198,953 |
| 2019 | $240,000 | $141,853 |
| 2020 | $150,000 | $99,500 |
It is that last number that is giving me angst – in round numbers, $100,000. I still don’t have a breakdown of that revenue projection but it is half the number of 2018. Yet, there will always be a “market” for our recyclables – the major premise of why Gilford should do this.
Against the startup cost of $1.3M, that means a break even in 13 years. REALLY? 13 years? Who in the private sector does that in this kind of industry and in its present condition? And in this case, it isn’t even “their” money, it is OUR money. My money, other peoples’ money – just not THEIR money.
Now add in the operational costs: a total of $520K for this year (numbers from our BudComm budget book again). We’ve had the “stump dump” forever but now the manpower and costing will be reoriented for this new purpose. Previous years were $670K and $534K – so we get a “savings” of $200,000 per year (guesstimated).
So now we have three components: $1.3 million startup, $100K revenue, operation cost of $520K. How will this play over a 10 year period?
| Amortized | Operational | Total | Profit | ||
| Years | Capital Cost | Cost | Cost | Revenue | (Loss) |
| 1 | $130,000.00 | $520,000 | $650,000.03 | $100,000.00 | -$550,000.03 |
| 2 | $130,000.00 | $535,600 | $665,600.03 | $100,000.00 | -$565,600.03 |
| 3 | $130,000.00 | $551,668 | $681,668.03 | $100,000.00 | -$581,668.03 |
| 4 | $130,000.00 | $568,218 | $698,218.07 | $100,000.00 | -$598,218.07 |
| 5 | $130,000.00 | $585,265 | $715,264.61 | $100,000.00 | -$615,264.61 |
| 6 | $130,000.00 | $602,823 | $732,822.55 | $100,000.00 | -$632,822.55 |
| 7 | $130,000.00 | $620,907 | $750,907.23 | $100,000.00 | -$650,907.23 |
| 8 | $130,000.00 | $639,534 | $769,534.45 | $100,000.00 | -$669,534.45 |
| 9 | $130,000.00 | $658,720 | $788,720.48 | $100,000.00 | -$688,720.48 |
| 10 | $130,000.00 | $678,482 | $808,482.09 | $100,000.00 | -$708,482.09 |
| $1,300,000.00 | $5,961,217.59 | $7,261,217.59 | $1,000,000.00 | -$6,261,217.59 | |
| Operational Cost: | $520,000 | ||||
| Operation Inflation | 3.00% | ||||
| 2018 Laconia cost | $670,000.0 |
It is now clear that this facility will NEVER, EVAH pay for itself. It will never be a net new revenue source that the Town Administrator told us if the conditions remain status quo on the revenue side. It IS clear, however, that an increase 500 to 700% just to break even. That’s absurd at this point in time.
But that’s what we were sold as a bill of goods and supported by the true believers.
But the part that really lit me fire?
Er, need to put it into another post. But this alone, I HOPE, will serve as a template for other towns taxpayers to really take a long look at doing the same stupid thing.
