Waste Management, Inc. has created a problem for the Riley County Commission. Waste Management picks up solid waste in Riley County and trucks it to Rolling Meadows landfill north of Topeka. The Commission wants Waste Management to take their trucks to the Riley County Transfer Station where Riley County will receive a share of the profits.

Waste Management is the managing company at Rolling Meadows and does not pay the high fee that they would at the Riley County Transfer Station.

In a letter to the County Commission, County Engineer Dan Harden said: "When Waste Management, Inc. was hauling all of its collected waste to the Riley County transfer station it was delivering about 1200 tons of municipal solid waste per month to the transfer station. The transfer to the bond and interest account is $4.26 per ton. The Waste Management, Inc. diversion is therefore costing the Riley County bond and interest account about $5,100 a month in lost revenue or about $61,000 annually. If a mil is worth $273,000 the Waste Management, Inc. diversion is costing Riley County taxpayers about 0.22 mil."

Monday the Commission asked Harden to get more information on franchising and licensing of solid waste.

EDITOR NOTE: Now for a little background. At a time when other Counties were paying $300,000 to $600,000 to build transfer stations, Riley County paid-out $2 million.

It is called Free Enterprise for Waste Management, Inc. or any other hauler to find what works best for them.

The three Commissioners in office today did not make the mistake, but they must live with it. When Riley County overcharges to payoff the transfer station, it cost the citizens of Riley County more for the hauling.

Riley County should pick on someone their own size. Waste Management, Inc. is the largest waste hauling company in the United States. It could buy and sell Riley County with pocket change.

It is not how big a company is, or how much money the County should be making. The company has a right to conduct it's own business.