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Dust-Up Among Trash Haulers Highlights Need For Clear Rules

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2007

Hillsborough County has gotten itself in a legal mess with its garbage haulers and has no choice but to modify its rules or even renegotiate its franchise contract.

The problem arises from the way the county bid the contracts for the three companies that pick up garbage, recyclables and yard waste at curbside in unincorporated areas of the county. The county won a low price for residential pickups in exchange for giving the big three haulers - Waste Management, Waste Services and Republic Waste Services - the exclusive right to compete only with each other for all the major commercial garbage hauling in all three franchise areas. The contract runs until 2013.

The bargain for homeowners came at the expense of businesses forced to negotiate the best deals they could with no one except the three franchise holders.

But in practice, a wide array of haulers competed, especially for cleanup jobs at the county's many construction sites.

Haulers based here and from out of county are operating big trucks carrying giant bins with their names boldly displayed, in apparent violation of county law.

The franchise holders didn't worry about the mom-and-pop operators carrying small loads. But they complained about the big haulers who ignore the rules and land fat commercial contracts.

The franchise holders, held to strict performance standards, say they're losing $10 million or more in business each year to "rogue" competitors, some using unsafe and rickety equipment.

The need for an improved ordinance became apparent when a recent attempt at enforcement failed. A non-franchised hauler sued the county, saying the ordinance doesn't require a franchise for handling the debris from a house under construction.

A judge sided with the unauthorized hauler, saying such a site is neither a commercial establishment nor a residential unit as defined by the 1996 ordinance. The case is under appeal.

Meanwhile, the franchised haulers rightly want the county to tighten the wording so it can legally live up to its end of the deal.

The simple solution is to clarify the language of the ordinance, which commissioners will consider doing Wednesday afternoon. But the underlying problem is more complex.

Now that the county has allowed many hauling businesses to flourish, the owners might sue if they were suddenly put out of business. Their existence has never been a secret. And while residential garbage service is quite good in Hillsborough, builders have been less pleased.

Commissioner Al Higginbotham, who sympathizes with the nonfranchised haulers, says the big three charge more and haven't kept up with demand. And homebuilders naturally like dealing with many competitors.

A compromise, agreed to by the franchised haulers, county staff and some of the smaller haulers, would generally allow companies using trailers with a capacity of 16 cubic yards or less to work without a franchise. Higginbotham says the reform would force larger haulers to downsize or close down and would preclude them from growing their businesses.

He's right, but the county must make a good-faith effort to honor its contract with franchise holders. But when the contract runs out, the county should seek an arrangement that allows more competition.

It also should rethink its policy of forcing business to subsidize residential pickup.

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