Who is taking care of business at the RDOS?
Over the past little while there have been two scandals at our local landfills; both involved abused tax dollars. Theft, that ugly word, was raised when it came to light that an employee working at the landfill was skimming metal and batteries and reselling them to scrap dealers.
After backpedalling, the RDOS was forced to acknowledge and admit that this was true while praising the contracted employee as valuable and generally downplaying the event as insignificant.
There was no mention of redress to abused taxpayers for tax dollars lost.
Subsequently it was revealed that up to $50,000 was being lost through inadequate supervision of assorted construction waste being dumped at the OK Falls landfill. Again the RDOS backpedalled saying they had made a deal for free dumping of clean recyclable and top waste with a local business.
A couple of weeks ago they acknowledged that they are now trying to back collect some $20,000 in tipping fees for assorted waste from this so-called ‘free deal’ that went wrong.
Sounds like a steal of a deal to me.
Not done yet, the RDOS announced that the taxpayers in our area are such good recyclers that fees are way down at the Campbell Mountain landfill and they are running in the red. Taxes will increase or tipping fees will rise.
Who was asleep at the switch when theft was occurring and illegal dumping was happening?
Who was responsible for ensuring that only clean waste was being dumped for free and that other assorted waste was being paid for?
Why has the RDOS failed in their fiduciary duty to the taxpayers of this region?
I would suggest that the RDOS tighten up their operations before increasing taxes or tipping fees.
The RDOS should ask themselves why they are expecting business and/or taxpayers to pick up costs when they have this lazy attitude towards hard-earned taxpayer dollars.
Maybe because the tax grab just comes too easy.
Elvena Slump
Penticton