Beverly City Council Delays Trash Fee Vote, Schedules Special May 27 Meeting

BEVERLY -- May 18, 2026, Beverly City Council punts on trash fee vote, schedules special meeting for May 27. The nine-member council declined to take a first-reading vote Monday on a proposed ordinance that would raise the city's residential trash fee from $100 to as much as $425 annually, with Councilor Todd Rotundo withdrawing a subcommittee-amended motion pegged at $300 for a standard 65-gallon cart and $210 for a 35-gallon opt-down. Mayor Michael P. Cahill defended the city's new five-year, $5.46 million automated collection contract with Casella Waste Systems, a 38 percent jump over the current $3.9 million program, and warned that a fee set at the amended level would leave roughly $1.4 million unresolved in the fiscal year 2027 budget. Budget analyst Jerry Perry, citing nearly five decades of municipal finance experience, told the council the mayor "needs to know what he has" before June 1 and urged a decision before the budget arrives. The council separately approved all eight Community Preservation Committee grant recommendations totaling $1,795,866, including an $825,645 fire suppression upgrade at the Beverly Housing Authority's Garden City Towers, home to 137 residents.