Companies Using Landfill Owe Macon $574,000
Jun. 30–About 45 companies and agencies owed a total of $574,000 to the city of Macon at the end of May for dumping garbage in the city landfill, according to city finance records. A portion of almost all these bills was overdue.
Two of the companies with the largest debts receive a special discount on their landfill fees because they bring so much garbage to the landfill.
However, most of the companies and agencies contacted by The Telegraph dispute the Macon Finance Department’s numbers, saying the bills were paid.
Dexter White, Macon public works director, called the late payments a “nonissue,” adding that companies receiving discounts pay regularly, although they usually take 60 to 90 days.
City spokesman Ron Wildman said it’s his understanding that some companies make monthly payments without ever paying off their full balance.
Companies and governments that bring their waste to landfills pay “tipping fees” to dump there. Companies that pay their monthly bill late are charged a $25 late fee, White said.
White said the only company with a long overdue bill is Guy’s Waste, which owes $196,900. When White took over the department in 2000, he switched to working with Guy’s on a cash-only basis, he said.
After the City Council examined uncollected fees last week, former Chief Administrative Officer William Saunders decided the city would stop accepting Guy’s trash entirely, White said. Saunders was replaced two days later with Regina McDuffie.
Guy Sidney, who described himself as an associate with Guy’s Waste, declined to comment.
Macon’s regular tipping fees are $27.65 a ton, with Attaway Waste and Advanced Disposal Services receiving a special rate of $15.65 on the condition that the companies haul at least 1,500 tons to the landfill monthly.
Each company actually brings about 2,600 tons for about $40,000 a month, White said. This high volume lowers the city’s operating cost per ton and has enabled the landfill to be self-supporting for the past two years.
“(Those companies) are the main reason we break even,” he said. “That had never been done in 12 or 13 years.”
At their current rate, Attaway and Advanced Disposal would account for $977,000 of the projected $1.1 million in tipping fee revenue for fiscal 2006.
Finance Department records show Attaway Waste owes about $204,000 and Advanced Disposal owes about $82,000.
George Sides, Middle Georgia district manager for Advanced Disposal, said he doesn’t believe the company’s payments are late enough for it to owe that much. He said the company pays within 40 days of receiving a bill.
Donna Attaway, office manager for Attaway Waste, said the company mailed a recent payment and now owes about $130,000. She said the company normally pays in 45-60 days but is currently running behind that schedule.
Some City Council members said the city is subsidizing companies by allowing two or three months to pay a bill.
“We’d hope the companies given a discount would be the first to pay their debt,” said Macon City Councilman Stebin Horne. “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. In the event folks are consistently late and receive a benefit, they should possibly lose the benefit.”
Councilman Mike Cranford said the city shouldn’t be offering more than one tipping fee anyway. “We’re not a business,” he said. “We don’t give discounts to customers. … Besides, where else are they going to go?”
White said landfills compete for high-volume customers. Attaway Waste and Advanced Disposal were both using Swift Creek Landfill in Bibb County before he lured them to Macon with the special tipping fee, he said.
Some governments and government-supported agencies also have overdue bills, according to the city Finance Department.
The Macon-Bibb County Land Bank Authority is listed as owing $30,500 in tipping fees. Land Bank director Alison Souther said this cost was already paid by the Beall’s Hill Development Corporation, which took demolition waste to the landfill while revitalizing the historic neighborhood.
Although Macon’s records indicate Jones County owes about $8,600, Jones’ Chief Financial Officer Leila Land said the county paid all its fees by June 23 and was only late paying April fees because a bill was never received.
Finance officials have not received these payments, Wildman said.
Cranford said the tipping fees are just another of the $1.4 million in fees the city has failed to collect, including garbage fees, business license fees and paving assessments.
“That’s the problem with this city: Every time they run out of money they want to raise taxes instead of collecting what’s owed to them,” Cranford said.
—–
To see more of The Macon Telegraph, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.macon.com
Copyright (c) 2005, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.