City Services Or Trees ????

Booshcat · Sep 10, 2008

Worcester balks at beetle killing costs

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- The Asian longhorned beetle could kill more than just trees in Worcester.

The city manager warns that teachers and police officers could lose their jobs if the city is forced to pick up too large a portion of the estimated $17 million to $24 million first-year costs of eradicating the destructive insects.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants the city and state to pay half the tab, or between $8.5 million and $12 million.

City Manager Michael O'Brien says he'd have to cut services or propose a tax hike to contribute to the effort to rid the area of the invasive beetles that kill hardwood trees.

O'Brien and state Department of Recreation and Conservation Commissioner Richard Sullivan Jr. say the federal government should pay for eradication efforts because containing the bugs is a federal issue.

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BRCCArborist · Sep 10, 2008

Won't the state dept. of agriculture cost share with the USDA? The state would then cost share with the county/city. Thats the way it works here. Still a lot of money.

NYCHA FORESTER · Sep 10, 2008

I would think the state dept. of forestry would kick in some money. But it really is a federal issue (as they set the standard for controlling the little bugger) and should be funded, in my opinion, by the feds.
Contact your local congressman or woman.

I guess all you gotta do is add another tax... right?

Take a picture of the fall foliage in he Berkshires because it won't be there long if you fail.

treeseer · Sep 10, 2008

NYCHA FORESTER said:
it really is a federal issue (as they set the standard for controlling the little bugger) .

If the feds are calling for cutting healthy trees, they are repeating a frequent mistake.

John Paul Sanborn · Sep 10, 2008

Often, yes, but this is one of the pests that they have controlled through clear cutting. Populations move slow, and it is not readily controlled chemically due to the deep xylem boring.

capetrees · Sep 10, 2008

So let the trees die for a while and then see if the towns people want the trees cut down. Can't the town do it as a debt exclusion to the taxes, a one time cost paid over years similar to a building project as opposed to a sudden tax burden? And why is always teachers and cops that go first? How about some of the dead skank in the DPW that haven't been doing their job controling this bug or the tree wraden and his staff or the town hall do-nothings who are the assistant to the assistants assistant? Always depriving you of your safety or your kids future.