Waste-hauler switch raises eyebrows

The Salt Lake County waste council has dumped what some county leaders and local trash haulers called a sweetheart landfill deal.

A unanimous vote Thursday afternoon by the Salt Lake County Solid Waste Management Council means the county will save $1.2 million this year alone by tossing Allied Waste and hiring Western Disposal to haul the county's trash, said Darrin Casper, the county's chief financial officer.

Allied charged the county $23.85 per ton of waste to haul trash from the transfer station and for dumping costs at a private landfill in Tooele. Western Disposal will charge only $18.50 for transportation and tipping fees and will haul the trash to the county landfill.

"We are losing money every day by continuing with this contract" with Allied, said Rick Graham, chairman of the landfill board and Salt Lake City's director of public services. "We've got to stop that. We have a situation here where we can provide the same services to our communities at a lower cost."

Private contractors pick up the trash curbside and bring it to the landfill's transfer station. From there, Allied used to haul the trash to the county landfill. But in April, when the Tooele landfill opened, Allied started taking 40 percent of that trash out to Wasatch Regional Solid Waste Landfill in Tooele.

By hiring Western, all that trash will instead be shipped directly to the Salt Lake County landfill.

"In changing this contract, we are able to reduce the cost to county and city taxpayers by 22 percent," said Linda Hamilton, the county's director of public works and a member of the landfill council. "We're just trying to do what's best for the citizens and the taxpayers. That means choosing a cheaper hauling contract."

Skeptics say the math is not that simple. Councilman Joe Hatch said he can make any landfill contract look like it's either losing or making money by playing with the numbers.

He said he wants to see the financial details of the Western contract before a final decision is made. Hatch and three other members of the Salt Lake County Council sent a letter to the landfill board Thursday asking it to delay a decision on the Western contract.

It's likely too late, although the Allied contract isn't canceled yet. Western won't start work for another 100 days or so, and the landfill board must give Allied 30 days notice before that contract ends.

"This is a huge issue for the County Council," Hatch said. "Why wouldn't they include us in the decisions?"

Others fear the new deal will only fill up the county landfill faster.