Tiverton residents should be alarmed. Members of the town council may be considering charging as much as $200 per year for stickers on new trash bins that would be required for waste collection. This plan is not just misguided — it is unnecessary and unfair.

From the start, council president John Edwards V has championed this scheme as if it were the only path forward, yet it solves no real problem. As reported last week in the Sakonnet Times, he urged his colleagues to “stop kicking the can down the road” and adopt a new system. But I believe that what he is really asking is for every household in Tiverton to open their wallets for a program few residents have asked for and many cannot afford.

Proponents aruge that Tiverton should model itself after Portsmouth and Middletown, where similar trash programs are in place. But copying neighboring towns is not leadership — it’s laziness. Our community deserves policies tailored to Tiverton’s needs, not a one-size-fits-all approach imported from elsewhere.

As many of our mothers wisely said, “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Just because other towns have chosen to impose costly trash systems doesn’t mean Tiverton should follow. Residents should not be forced into paying $200 every year for the privilege of throwing away their garbage.

Tiverton deserves better. Instead of burdening taxpayers with another mandatory fee, our council should be looking for solutions that are cost-effective, practical, and respectful of the residents they serve

Andrew Mello

Tiverton