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  4. Audit Reveals Problems and Lost Revenue at Dallas' Landfill

Audit Reveals Problems and Lost Revenue at Dallas' Landfill

Date: September 11, 2012

Source: News Room

An audit report indicates "a strong likelihood" that the City of Dallas lost $1.1 million over the last 11 years at its McComas Bluff Landfill due to loose financial controls. As reported in the Dallas Morning News, the audit revealed that some haulers overestimated the weight of their vehicles in order to under report the waste for which they should have been charged. Some haulers gave out other haulers' truck numbers that sometimes went unpaid. And, there were few controls over the cashiers themselves, who were sometimes paid in cash and could cheat the computer system, among many other problems. Particularly problematic is that the Sanitation Services department was informed of these issues in 2009 but did not address them. Just before the audit was made public, sanitation services director Mary Nix was demoted to assistant director of Public Works, but the city has not revealed why.

The audit will likely not bolster the city's case for enacting a flow-control ordinance that would require all waste from the city to be taken to the McComas Bluff Landfill. Over the last year, the city has argued that it needed the additional revenue to fund a more aggressive recycling initiative. Private haulers sued and won an injunction on the grounds that the ordinance was a thinly disguised revenue grab for the city and that it interferes with their existing contracts. The matter is still pending in federal court.

To read the report: "Audit of Selected Landfill Financial Controls," (
www.dallascityhall.com/pdf/Auditor/A12-010_Audit_Selected_Landfill_Financial_Controls_SAN_09072012.pdf)

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