TRASH HAULING FEES TARGETED CUSTOMERS' COSTS, BENEFITS TO BE STUDIED.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The City Council agreed Tuesday to issue a report tracking the fees residents pay the city for trash pickup, and endorsed a proposal to audit the trash haulers and their contracts with Santa Clarita.

The report is expected to show about $500,000 of the $1.3 million the city collects from its haulers, Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal Co. and Atlas Consolidated Services, is used to encourage customers to recycle, according to City Manager George Caravalho. The rest of the money is used to patch streets torn up by the large trash trucks.

``This is just to make sure residents' money is being spent appropriately,'' said Councilman Cameron Smyth, who made the motion.

In March, Smyth proposed slashing the 10 percent franchise fee in half for the next four years in an attempt to lower residents' trash bills. His plan - which failed for lack of a second - would have cost the city about $670,000 a year. Currently, each Santa Clarita household pays $2.13 a month in franchise fees - on top of a $20 bill.

Council members' also endorsed Smyth's plan to audit Blue Barrel and Atlas' rates along with their past, present and proposed city contracts. The council unanimously ordered the audit in May.

The audit will examine every aspect of the city's trash hauling services, going back to 1991, when officials created the franchise. Blue Barrel and Atlas will foot the $50,000 cost.

The investigation, which is expected to take three months to complete, will pay special attention to the way the haulers set rates, their costs and profits and the fees the companies pay to dump waste at landfills and pay to the city for the franchise.

The report will also itemize all the charitable and political donations made by the haulers in Santa Clarita.

Blue Barrel is involved in many local organizations and nonprofit groups, including the Boys and Girls Club.

``I want to shed light on everything,'' Smyth said.

The controversy, sparked by the City Council's decision not to open the city's trash franchise to bids from other companies and concerns that residents pay too much for trash services, has divided the council for the past five months.

The council members said they hoped the audit would put the controversy to rest by answering critics' questions. They are expected to issue a formal request for audit proposals at their July 10 meeting.

Also at that meeting, a final report on the amount of trash sent to area landfills by city residents will be presented to the council. City officials believe the report will show that at least 68,000 tons of trash from Los Angeles County was mistakenly attributed to the city in 1999 and 2000 because of errors at Chiquita Canyon Landfill.