ST. AGATHA – Town officials in St. Agatha on Monday evening continued to discuss whether or not the town could save money by choosing a different option for disposing of its solid waste.

During a Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager Ryan Pelletier updated the group on St. Agatha’s solid waste disposal options.

At this point, town officials estimate that residents in the community are generating about 500 tons of trash per year.

Right now, the town is paying the Northern Aroostook Regional Incinerator Facility in Frenchville around $86,000 a year to dispose of its garbage, according to Pelletier. In June, selectmen asked Pelletier to find out if there are other options out there that might be cheaper.

Most refuse brought to the facility is disposed of at a Canadian landfill in northwestern New Brunswick.

NARIF oversees recycling and disposal efforts for St. Agatha, Frenchville, Fort Kent and Madawaska. The cost of the NARIF budget is shared on a population and property valuation ratio by the four towns.

Pelletier said that one of the options selectmen are considering is using the services of the Tri-Community Landfill in Fort Fairfield.

If that happens, Pelletier said, the town still would need access to a transfer station to dispose of its “bulky waste,” which includes items such as construction and demolition debris.

The manager said he had spoken to David Sokolich, Aroostook County’s public works director, about the possibility of the town disposing such items at the county’s transfer station in Sinclair.

“We talked about if that could happen and how the town could share in the cost of that,” Pelletier said. “Nothing has been decided, but it just gives us another bit of information to consider.”

Pelletier said Tuesday that town officials would be attending a NARIF meeting next month and that he expects selectmen to make a final decision on the matter sometime after that session.