New tipping fee causes garbage rift

A brouhaha between Lake County and Republic Services over a fee hike spilled over into the commission chambers and Leader editorial pages recently, with the disposal service accusing the county of “double dipping” by invoicing them for what’s known in the industry as a “tipping fee.”

In July, Lake County began charging Republic for dropping compacted garbage from residential and commercial customers on the floor of a large building at the Transfer Station south of Polson. From there, the garbage is sorted by county employees, loaded in county trucks, and hauled to Republic’s landfill in Missoula.

That same month, Republic began charging its Lake County customers an additional $3 a month, described on its bill as a “disposal charge due to new Lake County Transfer Station disposal fee.”

Both sides are hearing from disgruntled customers.

Republic argues that Lake County taxpayers already pay for this service with the $180 solid-waste fee that’s assessed annually. The county commissioners say that assessment pays for Lake County residents to haul their garbage to the Transfer Station or one of the county’s rural collection sites, but does not cover the cost for Republic’s garbage haulers to use the Transfer Station.

Chad Bauer, a municipal manager for Republic Services, told commissioners at a meeting Aug. 30 “it’s very confusing to us as to why we should be paying a tipping fee for something that’s already being paid for in an assessment.”

“The fee was added to us after 37 years of not having a fee, since day one of the transfer station,” he added. “That's why that was put on the bill, so customers knew that we were not just willy-nilly charging them extra money for no good reason whatsoever.”

“I think it was a little disingenuous to put in that it's a Lake County fee,” replied Lake County Commissioner Gale Decker. “It wasn't a fee that Lake County added to people's bills, it was a fee that Republic added to people's bills.”

Commissioner Bill Barron added that when garbage is dumped by Republic trucks, “we have to furnish labor to take it, clean it up, reload it in another truck, and then that gets hauled to Missoula.”

“So that's an extra cost to us that I feel that we need to recoup,” he said. “And if you feel it's legitimate to have to increase the cost to the customers because of that, that's legitimate too. So to me it's a cost to doing business for both of us.”

The garbage preferences of two commissioners illustrate the issue. Commissioner Decker hauls his own garbage to the transfer station and drops it into bins, which are then ferried by Lake County trucks directly to Republic’s landfill in Missoula.

Commissioner Steve Stanley, on the other hand, pays Republic to collect his garbage and carry it to the Transfer Station, where it’s dumped on the floor, sorted and reloaded by county employees and shuttled to Missoula by Lake County trucks.

“It costs Lake County more to deal with Steve's garbage than it does to deal with mine,” Decker said.

“I use you because I like the service. I like not going to the convenience sites,” said Stanley. “That’s why one I think you’ll find the majority of us don't mind paying that three bucks a month extra. But if it’s a cost you're passing on to me because it's costing more to do business then selling it that way I think would be fair.”

“Politically, it’s a nightmare for both of us,” he added.

In justifying the tipping fee, Lake County Solid Waste Director Stacey Kintigh pointed out that Republic’s costs would be far higher if they had to collect garbage in Lake County and haul it directly to Missoula’s landfill, without use of the Transfer Station.

“Add all that money up and see how much of a benefit you guys have in regards to the use of our facility,” he said.

“Yes, the transfer station is a convenient site for us,” Bauer replied. “I will tell you this, if that transfer station wasn't there, we would have built a transfer station … There's no reason to have two great big transfer stations in a 20-mile radius – but we could certainly do it if we needed to.”

The meeting ended on a conciliatory note, with both sides agreeing to author a joint press release to, as Bauer said, “try to explain what is taking place and what is going on and why this is changing.”

“And then, what can we do to alleviate this problem so everybody in the entire community, all of these communities, is not mad at us and you guys at the same time?”