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Time for change at solid waste authority

Atrocious financial management has been allowed at the Franklin County Solid Waste Management Authority, and all county residents should be disappointed in the officials in charge.

This public agency operates the county landfill in Westville and Constable, plus transfer stations in Tupper Lake, Lake Clear and Malone. Oversight is provided by a board appointed by county legislators; each legislator picks one board member from his or her district.

They need to crack down and do a better job.

Recent audits by the state comptroller’s office and an independent agency hired by the county found serious bookkeeping problems, including that the authority’s receipts don’t add up 20 percent of the time: “For 54 of 265 daily collections reviewed (20 percent) the amount of collections recorded did not agree with the corresponding deposit made.”

That could allow for the misappropriation of funds, but auditors stopped short of saying funds were actually misappropriated because it’s apparently impossible to tell — which is, of course, a problem. Bad bookkeeping can be used as cover for theft and other shenanigans. The stakes are too high for county officials to allow lax standards — and the standards so far have been downright abysmal.

Sloppiness directly cost the taxpayers money in some cases. For instance, when the board raised the fee from $13 to $14 per vehicle, that change never got recorded in the computer system. The error resulted in lost revenues of $17,413.

On top of that, the audit found that as many as 64 different rates were charged for waste disposal and that many fees were set verbally between director George Eades and customers. The auditors said giving Eades’ the authority to negotiate individual rates with customers “without an independent review and Board approval increases the risk that negotiated rates may be subject to favoritism.”

Also, how fair is it that the authority gives sweetheart deals to out-of-county customers while sticking its own county’s residents with high rates? For instance, out-of-county customers were charged as little as $32 per ton for construction debris, even though the solid waste board had set the fee at $110 per ton, or $105 per ton for more than two tons. Eades defended the practice, saying it helps the authority bring in more revenue. Now he’s trying to get the city of Albany to haul its garbage up here.

Back in 2007, he convinced county legislators to pass a law making it illegal to take garbage generated in Franklin County out to any other landfill. That’s essentially a trade law regulating commerce crossing county lines. We don’t think a county should be able to do that.

We won’t even get into Eades’ weak commitment to recycling.

Too many things have been poorly managed for too long at the Franklin County Solid Waste Management Authority. Patchwork fixes aren’t enough. It’s time for new leadership.

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