"Why are they trying to fill that so fast," said Dave Nicponski, a shareholder in Tooele's Wasatch Regional Solid Waste Management. "If we hurry and fill that up, where are we going to find another one? What the county is doing is shortsighted."

The Salt Lake County landfill has an estimated life of another 49 years, Graham said. The new contract will not change that, because that estimate was compiled before Allied started diverting trash to the Tooele landfill.

Margaret Bird, a Draper resident who works at the State Office of Education, fears that in the end, Utah's schoolchildren will ultimately pay the price for the landfill board's decisions to switch contracts. Because the Tooele landfill is located on school trust lands, 5 percent 5 to 9 percent of the facility's gross receipts help fund public schools.

"Your impact is millions of dollars and maybe tens of millions for our schools," said Bird. "I'm concerned a deal has been made before the public had a chance to say anything. This sounded to me like something that was decided before we walked into this room."

Local trash haulers hailed the decision, saying the new contract with Western marks the end of a "shady sweetheart deal."

"It just made me sick to my stomach," said a man at the meeting who asked not to be named. "As a taxpayer, that old deal was just ridiculous."

"I've seen this going on for well over a year," said Mark Eldredge, a private Salt Lake County trash hauler. "I can see no reason to haul our trash from here to Tooele. I believe you've made the right decision."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com