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Sloan garbage bill may be legitimate
A large garbage bill submitted by a Niagara County sanitation company to the Village of Sloan may have some validity, says Sloan Attorney Paul Murak.
Murak and several Sloan officials disputed a $90,000 bill submitted in February by Modern Corporation of Lewiston, which handles garbage collection and disposal in Sloan. The bill includes alleged undercharges by the company against the village from early 2003 through 2006.
At Tuesday's village meeting, Murak stated he randomly selected four months' worth of tickets from the company's undercharges list and requested company officials validate the tickets with written documentation. Murak added that Modern officials did provide Sloan with ticket documentation that "exactly corresponded" with the undercharges for the selected four months.
Modern currently takes village waste to the East Side Transfer Station on North Ogden Street in Buffalo and bills Sloan on a monthly basis. At the transfer station, trucks unload trash, and the weight, source and amount are recorded on tickets, which are then mailed to Modern. Murak said the four selected tickets were mailed and properly recorded, but were not billed to the village at that specific time.
Murak researched a similar case involving late payment requests, citing a May 1981 case in Westchester County in which an electric company did not immediately bill a town's fire company for electrical work, then requested payment at a later date. Murak said the New York state comptroller at the time ruled that the fire district must pay the bill after the electric company submitted documentation verifying the completed work, adding that New York state law states that a "timebarred" claim gives a company or business six years to make a request or bring civil litigation against a municipality or district.
However, the Sloan attorney said Modern officials must produce documentation for all undercharged tickets, not just the four he selected.
"It tells us something, but not everything," Murak said of Modern's recent verification of undercharged tickets. "They have to prove for each one of the months, not just the four I selected."
Village Trustee Anthony Sisti reiterated Murak's statement, adding, "I'm not paying them for something we owe if (Modern) doesn't have all of the receipts."
Murak said if Modern produces all $90,000 worth of undercharged tickets, the village should pay the Lewiston company over the same number of years (four) that Modern claimed the village had not been billed.
Sloan Mayor Leonard Szymanski said the village would need to "scrape up" funds to foot the bill over four years' time if Modern documents each and every undercharge.
"We don't have that kind of money ($90,000) to pay right now. We also don't want a lawsuit," Szymanski said. "We'd probably be looking at about $22,500 a year if everything goes through."
Joe Hickman, the sales representative for Modern Corporation and the person with whom Sloan officials discuss financial matters, did not return calls left by the Times as of Wednesday afternoon.
In other action Tuesday, the board:
+ Named the Times as the co-official newspaper of the village.
+ Selected MBIA and HSBC banks as official depositories of Sloan.
+ Waived a fee for a Sloan Fire Hall request made by the Cleveland Hill/ John F. Kennedy club hockey team to hold a dinner at the fire hall on April 28.
+ Approved members of the Sloan Fire Company conducting a door-todoor fund drive on April 29, beginning at 1 p.m.
+ Approved a New York state safety driving/insurance reduction course at the Piekarski Center on Halstead Avenue on April 21 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Cost of the class is $25.
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