Viki Steiner, President of CROWD letter to Doug Sutherland, County Executive

In August LRI and Pierce County made a deal on a partial reduction of garbage disposal rates. This rate reduction hit the newspapers and was bragged about as if LRI was doing the ratepayers some wonderful favor. But the reduction was not what it should have been, and ratepayers are still paying more than they should.

I wrote to Mr. Sutherland, Pierce County Executive, regarding what I perceived as unfair about this rate reduction. I would like to share part of that letter with you.

"Dear Mr. Sutherland:

"CROWD is disappointed in the recent garbage rate reduction proposed by LRI and apparently approved by the Pierce County Solid Waste Division and you. We are concerned that this reduction still leaves Pierce County ratepayers overcharged and LRI receiving funds for services they are not providing.

"First, the ratepayers have been paying an increased rate for years to longhaul approximately 40% of our solid waste. In late 1998 when LRI stopped longhauling to fill Hidden Valley ….. our rates were not reduced. CROWD was told it would "be too confusing to the ratepayers" to have a temporary reduction and then a raise. Perhaps you underestimate Pierce County ratepayers.

"Our rates increased again in January 1999 when we began to longhaul 100% of our solid waste. This rate hike, although much less than the threats of billions of dollars issued by you and LRI during the permitting process, represents a significant increase in revenue for LRI. This hike was given without Pierce County ever knowing what the true cost of longhaul for the County should be.

"LRI continued to charge ratepayers this increased rate after they opened their 304th Street landfill in December 1999, and decreased the amount longhauled. The increased rate continued even after mid February 2000, when LRI ceased to longhaul altogether. There has been no accounting, to our knowledge, of the dollar amount LRI collected to longhaul garbage that was never longhauled. That amount is due and owing to the ratepayers of Pierce County. CROWD would like to know what that figure is and how it was calculated.

"We are particularly offended by this rate reduction scheme unveiled in August 2000 that is apparently incremental. What kind of business practice is it that allows rates to be reduced only by a portion of LRI's decreased cost with some vague indication that rates will be reduced by some undisclosed amount later? CROWD is not in favor of this "pay now, we'll talk later" attitude. This approach, combined with LRI's threats of rate increases to the County Council, is not acceptable."

There, I've said it, and, I presumed to the right person. I got an answer the other day and I would like to share part of that with you also.

"Dear Ms. Steiner:

Your September 7th letter states that CROWD is disappointed in the recent rate reduction proposed by LRI. CROWD is concerned that Pierce County ratepayers are overcharged and LRI is receiving funds for services they are not providing. I agree. That is why the Solid Waste Division continues to negotiate with Land Recovery, Inc. (LRI) to develop permanent contract language. It is my expectation that their final negotiated product will result in even lower rates than the rates which took effect on August 1, 2000."

Mr. Sutherland agreed! But, he did not answer my question on how much (a dollar amount) Pierce County ratepayers have been overcharged. I took it upon myself to see if I could come up with a ballpark figure for part of the overcharge. LRI says Pierce County is producing about 340,000 tons of garbage per year. LRI ceased to longhaul 100% in December 1999. They ceased longhauling altogether on February 11, 2000. That would be about….

6 months worth of garbage 170,000 tons x $10.90 (the August rate reduction)= $ 1,853,000.00 LRI has overcharged ratepayers.

WOW! And Mr. Sutherland agrees that we are still paying for services LRI is not providing! How many millions are we still being overcharged? Did the rate reduction bring rates down to LRI's in-county disposal predictions?

Did the rate reduction even equal the approximate $20.00 per ton we were told would be the rail cost to longhaul?

Mr. Sutherland's letter goes on to say,

"LRI has already given its written assurance that 'added revenues in the near term will result in offsetting reductions in the longer term.'"

The "added revenues in the near term" I assume refers to the overcharging that LRI is engaging in. The "offsetting reductions in the long term" I guess means lower rates someday. It looks to me like the ratepayers of Pierce County are floating a multi-million dollar loan to LRI with the promise of being paid back in lower rates later. I don't remember agreeing to that, do you?

I looked up "loan" in the dictionary to see what Webster had to say. I found:

loan /'lon/ noun 1: money let out at interest. INTEREST?! Nobody told us we were getting interest! After all, why should LRI be entitled to an interest-free loan from unsuspecting ratepayers? Unless, of course, I was mistaken all along and this is not a loan, but rather a donation from all of us unsuspecting ratepayers.