[StBernard] St. Bernard officials investigating exorbitant landfill costs billed by SDT Waste

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard officials investigating exorbitant landfill costs billed by SDT
Waste
by Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
Friday October 31, 2008, 9:09 AM

Officials in St. Bernard Parish are continuing to investigate more than a
year's worth of what they contend are exorbitant landfill costs for waste
handled under a parish contract with SDT Waste & Debris. 


In a matter of four months last year, landfill costs billed to the parish by
SDT increased fivefold and continued to rise until early this year,
according to parish records, raising questions from parish officials of
whether construction debris from outside the parish was being mixed in with
St. Bernard's garbage. 

SDT owner Sidney Torres IV said debris from new construction in the parish
contributed to the uptick. But the sharpest increases -- from $41,000 billed
to the parish in May 2007 to $392,000 in February 2008 -- came after the
initial rebuilding wave. 

"Do I think we were billed excessively? Yes," Parish President Craig Taffaro
said. "What was delivered on St. Bernard's ticket was more than what was St.
Bernard's debris." 

Under an unsigned, verbal agreement with former Parish President Henry
"Junior" Rodriguez's administration, SDT has exclusive use of a parish waste
transfer site on Paris Road in exchange for hauling the parish's waste to
River Birch Landfill in Waggaman free of charge. The parish pays SDT a $20
monthly fee for each household, as well as disposal costs at the landfill. 

When SDT took over the site in mid-2007, there was a written but unsigned
agreement that allowed SDT to bring garbage and debris to the site from
neighboring parishes. The agreement was never signed because of questions
over who owned the transfer site. 

Torres said his understanding was that construction debris brought by parish
residents would be combined with company-collected garbage and then charged
to the parish when it was disposed at River Birch. 

But the St. Bernard transfer site has no scales to weigh the amount of
debris or garbage going in, making exact calculations of how much should be
billed to St. Bernard impossible. There are also no records of who dumped
debris into the pile. 

Torres said parish officials knew that at the time, and should have alerted
him if they had a problem. 

"I'll admit there were no scales, there were no monitors. We did the best we
could with what we had," Torres said Thursday. 

Garbage or debris from other parishes was also added to that pile. Torres
said workers determined each parish's landfill costs based on the number of
trucks coming into the site from those parishes. 

Contractors and residents had been told by St. Bernard that they could dump
construction debris into a bin at the site, but many came with large
trailers that were unable to offload into the small bin. Torres said their
debris was combined into a large pile on the site, and then added to St.
Bernard's bill. 

Torres said the extra debris, plus the additional garbage from returning St.
Bernard Parish homeowners, accounted for the sharp increases through early
this year. February was the peak, with 12,000 tons billed to the parish at a
cost of $392,000. 

When the SDT contract began in mid-2006 there were 3,000 customers, compared
with more than 16,000 now. That would represent a fivefold increase in cost,
but parish officials point out that costs have risen disproportionately. 

Rodriguez said he was unaware the parish was being charged for the excess
construction debris. 

Taffaro said he tried to reduce costs by cutting down on the number of bins
across the parish and compacting debris before it was delivered to the
transfer site. SDT workers also started asking to see driver's licenses to
ensure that only parish residents were dumping their debris. 

Taffaro said he was unaware that residents and contractors were dumping
debris at the transfer site and expecting the parish to pick up the costs.
"The problem that I face is that whatever happened before January I have a
very difficult time holding him (SDT) accountable for," said Taffaro, who
took office in January. 

The bills started to go down -- June's was $235,000 -- but Taffaro said he
still believed the charges were excessive. The parish and SDT struck a deal
this month that would cap the payments at 3,000 tons, about one-fourth of
the high-ton mark from February. 

"Allowing it to continue would be criminal," Taffaro said. 

The Parish Council will consider a measure next week to delay a $20 per
household garbage fee that was set to go into effect in December, as the
parish figures out how much it should be paying in upcoming months. 

"We should be able to account for every penny we spend, and there shouldn't
be any question of whether we're paying for our garbage or New Orleans'
garbage," Council President Wayne J. Landry said. 

The parish has given Torres a May deadline to find another site. Torres for
more than a year has been seeking approval to build another transfer site on
Paris Road that would have scales. Neighborhood opposition has slowed his
progress. 

"Do you think for the last two years I would be trying to build a $2 million
facility with scales on it?" Torres said. "Why would I go out and spend that
kind of money if I was getting a free ride?" 

. . . . . . .