By Carol P. Bartold

Dec. 14, 2016:  Landscape contractors Larry Wilson and Michael Iorio appeared before the Bronxville Board of Trustees to express their concerns about Mayor Mary Marvin's proposal to eliminate leaf collection in the village in favor of mulching in place. 

At the December 12 meeting, Wilson, government affairs chair of the New York State Turf & Landscape Association, based in Westchester County, stated that only a small percentage of Bronxville residents are aware of Marvin's proposal. The assumption that mulched leaves will find a "happy home" in planting beds or lawns of Bronxville's pristine properties, he commented, does not take into consideration the wants, needs, and desires of the community's heavily taxed homeowners.

"Our experience has been that homeowners regard leaf collection service as necessary," Wilson said. He added that paying landscapers to haul away leaves is effectively an additional tax in an environment where taxes are inordinately high. Prices, he noted, can double in November and December, when leaf volume is heavy, if landscapers haul leaves to another community to dump.

When volume is heavy or when leaves are wet, Wilson said, mulching in place as a means of reducing leaf volume is not effective.

Mike Iorio, president of the New York State Turf & Landscape Association, stated that trying to mulch the high volume of leaves during November and December stresses blades on machinery, consumes more fuel, and takes more time. "That cost is going to be passed on to customers," he said.

Wilson countered Marvin's assertion that leaf blowers remove layers of soil. Professional landscapers, he noted, are paid to keep properties healthy as well as immaculate. Commercial mulch, as opposed to "mashed-up leaves," he said, is clean, aesthetically much neater, and in high demand throughout the village. "The 'meadow' aesthetic will simply not fly with homeowners in Bronxville," he stated.

Wilson described as "questionable" Marvin's claims that Greenburgh and New Rochelle realize savings of $400,000 by providing compostable bags to residents for leaf collection. Far more than that amount, he said, has been added to taxpayers' burdens in those communities to have leaves removed.

Iorio pointed out that studies evaluating the benefits and disadvantages of mulching in place are still under way and no conclusions have been reached. Many landscapers do practice mulching in place at times of the year when leaf volume is lower.

"Let's be honest," Wilson said. "The mayor proposes eliminating an important service." He added that he has not begun to contact his Bronxville customers, as no decision has been made about eliminating leaf collection. "Our hope is that we will have input as this discourse goes forward," he said.

Pictured here:  Leaves on a road in Bronxville.

Photo by N. Bower