Montville — A week after the Town Council tabled a decision on overhauling the town's solid waste regulations, officials say they've decreased proposed transfer station fee hikes for seniors that could go into effect next year.

The proposed changes will establish tighter guidelines for what counted as disposable waste, increased transfer station sticker fees — along with the one-time-visit fee from $3 to $15 — and established caps on the number of bags visitors can dump.

Had councilors approved the changes last week, the $45 annual transfer station sticker fee for seniors would have increased to $60 next year, followed by $10 increases each of the next two years. After a push last week to revisit the proposed fee bumps from Councilors Billy Caron, Kathy Pollard and Joe Jaskiewicz, officials say the new fee for seniors likely will be $55 followed by $10 increases in 2020 and 2021.

For all other transfer station users, officials propose to increase sticker fees from $55 to $80 in 2019, followed by $20 increases in each of the next two years.

The updates would allow annual sticker holders to dispose of eight bags per week; each additional bag will cost residents $3. One-time-visit purchases will be limited to eight bags per visit.

During spirited debate at Town Hall this summer over the potential implementation of the pay-as-you-throw program, Councilor Wills Pike noted solid waste regulations hadn't seen substantial updates in almost 30 years, leaving the transfer station susceptible to abuse, such as people dumping an inordinate amount of bags.

After facing criticism over pay-as-you-throw — a system used in hundreds of New England towns to boost recycling and cut solid waste costs — councilors killed the plan and pledged to revamp the solid waste and disposal regulations.

Councilors plan to vote on the new proposal at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, at Town Hall.

After some complaints about transparency from residents and councilors, officials said they would post a notice at the transfer station to alert users that the proposed fee changes would be discussed next week. Officials said notices went up on Wednesday morning.

"There will be a pretty lively discussion," Pike said of next week's council meeting.

According to Waste Zero, state-hired consultants who reviewed the town's solid waste practices earlier this year, Montville residents dispose of about 700 pounds of trash per capita each month.

Annual sticker fee revenue approaches $110,000, but it costs the town — and all residents through property taxes — more than $580,000 to run the transfer station.

Councilors Tom McNally, Joe Rogulski, Jeff Rogers and Pike have argued increasing fees is a fairer way to run the transfer station and cut down on abuses, as opposed to continually passing on costs to all taxpayers.

Caron, Jaskiewicz and Pollard have said they support the new regulations and potential fee hikes but had concerns about fees going up more than one year and the potential impacts on seniors and low-income families.

"I don't see why it has to go up three years," Caron said on Wednesday.

Rogers last week chastised councilors for making the legislative process look "foolish," arguing the initially proposed fee changes never should have made it out of the Public Works/Solid Waste Committee if councilors still had reservations about the impact on residents who use the transfer station.

But Pollard and Caron argue it's common for councilors to forward proposals to the full council for further discussion.

b.kail@theday.com