You don’t have to pay extra, debris hauler informs cities
One of South Florida’s biggest debris-removal companies touted a price adjustment Wednesday it says could save cities millions of dollars in taxpayer money.
Randy Perkins, the founder and chairman of AshBritt Environmental Inc., said his Deerfield Beach-based company won’t collect extra fees from eight South Florida cities after all.
The cities had agreed to pay higher amounts in taxpayer money for cleanup service from AshBritt, concerned they were left with debris-strewn streets after Hurricane Irma left a mess. Perkins said he was forced to increase the fees to keep his subcontractors from leaving town for more lucrative jobs.
Those higher costs remain, but Perkins said he’ll eat the difference. He declined to say what that will be, only saying, “It is what it is.”
In Broward, among the cities that had agreed to pay more were:
Tamarac, whose debris hauling fees were estimated to rise from $3 million to $5.5 million.
Deerfield Beach, which was expecting an increase of anywhere from $800,000 to $1.2 million.
Pompano Beach, which was going to pay an extra $1,575,000.
Parkland, which was poised to pay an extra $697,000 more for debris hauling, up from an originally anticipated $1.4 million.
Palm Beach County cities that were set to pay the higher fees were Boca Raton and Delray Beach, and Miami-Dade cities, including Miami Beach and Key Biscayne.
AshBritt officials said it has 70 clients statewide; about two dozen of them are in the tri-county area. But only those eight cities were asked for higher fees “because they activated first,” or were the first to get the pickups, Perkins said.
Perkins told Parkland commissioners on Wednesday the
hurricanes this year were of a “biblical proportion” and there weren’t enough resources available.
“I made a commitment to the city,” he said of going back to the original terms and conditions. “I appreciate the city going out on a limb and giving us the surcharge. I’m giving it back.”
Perkins went to Tamarac City Hall two hours after attending a Parkland meeting to make the same public announcement.
Tamarac Vice Mayor Debra Placko had said the vote to pay more was done reluctantly.
“I was not at all happy about having to pay the higher fee but it was in the best interest of the residents,” she said. “We could not leave that for months.”
“We felt we were being coerced,” said Mayor Harry Dressler. “We said we’ll pay what we have to pay. Our obligation is to get the debris picked up.”
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week she issued investigative subpoenas to three debrisremoval companies that weren’t performing their jobs at the pre-storm contract rates, including AshBritt.
“Sitting debris is a health and safety hazard and needs to be removed as soon as possible — but instead of doing their jobs and helping Floridians recover, apparently some contractors are delaying the work or requesting higher rates,” Bondi said in a statement.
Perkins said the Federal Emergency Management Agency “cut and pasted” the attorney general’s subpoena to ask the same set of questions he now has to answer.
He insisted his refusal to take the extra money from cities has nothing to do with the subpoena — “I could care less.”
AshBritt is Perkins’ privately owned company that held the contract to clean up New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy and to clean up Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.