Westbrook is ending trash, street light services at Hamlet Mobile Home Park

WESTBROOK (WGME) — Residents at Hamlet Mobile Home Park are now facing higher monthly costs after the Westbrook City Council voted to end trash and street lighting services for the park.

“If we’re paying the taxes, we should be getting the benefit of it,” Owen Wood, who has lived at Hamlet for 22 years, said.

Since Wood moved to the park, the city has provided trash collection and maintained street lighting. But that will change starting July 1, after a city council vote in March to stop the services — a move that officials say will save Westbrook about $77,000.

“It’s a cost that, under the law, the city should not be incurring,” Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant said.

The history of city services at Hamlet goes back decades. In the 1990s, Westbrook adopted a rent control ordinance for communities like Hamlet, where residents own their home but rent the land it sits on.

Hamlet later challenged a rent control complaint in court. Eventually, a settlement was reached that required Westbrook to provide trash and lighting services from 2000 to 2005.

“For a five-year period, the city was obligated to do those two things,” Bryant said.

But five years turned into 25, and the city kept doing the work.

“Once the court order ended, we technically shouldn’t have been doing it, because we were spending public tax dollars on private property,” Bryant said.

Following the council’s decision, Hamlet management notified residents that it would assume responsibility for the park’s street lights — many of which are damaged or knocked down.

The cost of trash removal will now fall on residents, who will be required to pay about $19 per month for city pickup.

“It kind of ticked me off a little bit because we’re on a fixed income,” Wood said. “Everything goes up, but the income don’t.”

Hamlet management declined an interview but said in a statement that it plans to invest in street light improvements throughout the park.