A Sign Of What's To Come To Hudson? (Garbage News)

 

By one dollar, the Columbia County Solid Waste Management Department just raised the price of each of the three garbage bags it sells to county residents.  Small bags are now $2 each; medium bags are $4 each; and large bags are $6.

The CCSWD is struggling financially, perhaps severely.  Sometime last year or in 2024, the CC Public Works Committee created a Solid Waste subcommittee to keep an eye on things at the CCSWD and to make changes to keep the ship from sinking.  Recently, two of the CCSWD's satellite transfer stations -- Gallatin and New Lebanon --  were "closed indefinitely" but will likely never reopen.  It was a cost-saving measure, though the CCSWD has had too many stations throughout the county for far too long, some within a few miles of one another.  There is now a total of 7 county waste stations, including the main one in Greenport that Hudson DPW relies on to take our blue bags and recycling.  There have been discussions about closing all of the 6 satellite stations, all which are open either two or three days a week.  Transporting waste out of the stations is incredibly expensive and time-consuming, with, I believe, all of it headed to Greenport for processing.  There are personnel shortages, too, as you can imagine.

As the CCSWD (and especially the Greenport transfer station) goes, so goes DPW (and city services, taxes and fees).  It's only a matter of time before Rob Perry makes another request to the Common Council for another price hike of his blue garbage bags, and it just might happen real soon. Those are the bags sold out of the lovely graffitied and well-worn vending machine with the horribly worn, opaque and unsightly window out front of stately City Hall.  In a recent email to our dear mayor, I complained about the condition of the window, accurately describing it as "an absolute DISGRACE!"  Ferris's response?  In essence, it was, "We can't afford to replace it right now," actually referring to the window as "mildly aged."   Like cheese or wine, mildly aged! 

The mildly-aged vending machine in
front of City Hall, such a treat. 
Like wine and cheese!

Given the CCSWD's financial difficulties and the soaring price of gasoline, diesel and just about everything else we rely on to survive, the tipping fee we pay for DPW's garbage truck to empty its contents of residential garbage and recycling at the station on Newman Road will most certainly rise soon.  By how much, though?  How much are you willing to pay for a blue garbage bag found in a vending machine... if you're lucky enough to be able to see the bag you want through the mildly-aged, opaque window and figure out what numbers and letters to press to get a bag to drop?  Apparently, the mayor won't be able to afford to replace his and Rob Perry's mildly- aged window on the garbage bag vending machine until the price of the bags inside it increase, so get used to the bullshit and annoyances for now!  And, while you can and if you can, enjoy your wine and cheese.  It helps, doesn't it?!