County Waste accused of defrauding town of Colonie July 17, 2008
By Jill Bryce (Contact) Gazette Reporter
COLONIE — Town Supervisor Paula Mahan said her office is cooperating with state officials in the investigation of allegations that County Waste & Recycling bilked the town out of $15 million by dumping more garbage at the town landfill than it paid for. Investigators from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Attorney General's office arrived early today at the landfill on Route 9 as part of an ongoing probe into allegations by a whistleblower against County Waste. The company, one of the region's largest waste haulers, was fined $10,000 earlier this year by DEC for illegal waste disposal in Troy. Mahan said the latest complaint alleges that town landfill workers failed to weigh the trucks when they arrived at the landfill or trucks would go around the scales. The allegations are contained in a sealed complaint filed in Albany County by a former employee at County Waste in Clifton Park, according to Mahan. She said the investigation dates back to 2007. Court officials said the sealed complaint could only be opened by court order. "My office has been cooperating with Attorney General [Andrew] Cuomo to assist in any aspect of the investigation," Mahan said at a news conference this afternoon at Town Hall. "To that extent, I want to assure the taxpayers of the town that in the event it is determined there is wrongdoing on the part of anybody affiliated with this town, I will demand accountability and will do everything in my power to make sure the taxpayers are made whole." No arrests were made today, and Mahan said there have been no personnel changes at the landfill as a result of the probe. Based on input from concerned employees and residents and an internal review, Mahan said she was concerned that activities at the landfill were not being scrutinized adequately. She requested an audit be done at the landfill, and results are expected next week. "Unfortunately, the allegations we learned of this morning may confirm my worst suspicion," said Mahan.
County Waste principal says whistleblower wants cash July 18, 2008
Is the man who blew the whistle on alleged fraud by a local trash hauler just trying to his hands on some easy money?
That's what one of the principals of County Waste is telling the Times Union.
The dump fraud claim comes from a former employee named Ralph Hunter, who said the company routinely had its garbage trucks bypass the scales at the Colonie town landfill to avoid paying the dumping fee on the full load.
The state is now investigating; CBS 6 is told as much as $15 million in unpaid fees could be involved.
Hunter stands to benefit from those unpaid fees -- under a state law rewarding whistleblowers, he would get a percentage of any money that Colonie might recover.
EDITORIALS Landfill claim puts Colonie’s fiscal mess in perspective
How convenient it will be for the town of Colonie if allegations that County Waste & Recycling, for several years, purposely understated the amount of waste it dumped at the town’s landfill prove true. The amount of the alleged cheating is believed to be in the vicinity of $15 million — just slightly under the amount of the town’s deficit identified in a recent state comptroller’s audit. If the town could somehow recover that money, its financial problems would be largely solved. But even if the whistleblower’s claims do pan out, it wouldn’t really absolve the previous town administration — booted out of office last November — that rang up the huge deficit: It was either unaware of how out of whack the town’s books had become, or knew but didn’t do anything to address the problem. Given so lackadaisical an approach to bookkeeping, it’s not hard to believe the claim by a former County Waste employee as to how things may have been working at the landfill: County Waste trucks routinely being allowed to dump their loads without being weighed, submitting phony weight slips indicating much lighter loads, and subsequently paying far less in tipping fees than they should have. It’s a serious criminal allegation that remains to be proved. Toward that end, investigators from the state attorney general’s office and Department of Environmental Conservation appear to have acted in proper fashion Thursday — simultaneously raiding County Waste offices in Clifton Park and the town landfill, seizing computers, interviewing employees and so forth. Now state investigators have to determine if the whistleblower’s scenario is accurate, which, depending on how careful County Waste managers might have been in covering their tracks, may not be too easy. In the meantime, the allegation should serve as a heads up to officials in any municipality operating a multimillion-dollar landfill. Opportunities to commit fraud abound, so well-established operating procedures and strict oversight are essential.
In order for this scam against the town of Colonie to work County Waste would have to have inside help from the ones in charge[employees of the town] to be able to bypass the scales. Anyone who has been to the dump knows that there's an employee of the town as you enter the dump telling you where to dump and to look at what you're dumping and charge you accordingly. If County Waste was doing this chances are that other waste collectors are involved as well.
Shadow you are right. And I believe I read where the supervisor of Colonie was going to launch an investigation into the town's employees at the site. My only concern is that, why would a 'driver' for County Waste try to cut a deal with town workers? I mean, why would the driver care? It's cost is clearly not coming out of his pocket. Unless someone's hand was getting greased!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
It would have to be someone much higher up in the political food chain than the man who oversees the dump getting their hand greased and telling the dump operator to look the other way. I think that the Town of Colonie Supervisor is doing a lot of wishful thinking as a pile of money from County Waste would sure solve her budget problems.
See now I think just the opposite. If anyone got their hand greased, it would be the worker at the dump who turned a blind eye to the trucks as they came in. And IF the worker's hand was greased, it wouldn't have been by the trucker. It would have been by someone higher up in the company. Same idea as yours....just only in reverse. In either case, I feel sorry for the 'whistle blower'. He may wake up with a horse head in his bed!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
You're right Bumble it could be done either way. This could just be a revenge attempt by the whistle blower to try and get even with his ex -employer too.
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