A couple of months ago or so it came to light on CHBC News that the Penticton landfill had an employee problem. Apparently thousands of dollars of tax revenue had been lost due to an employee removing items from the landfill and reselling batteries and metal scrap to the scrap metal dealers.
When the manager of the landfill was contacted he stated that this valued employee had been reprimanded and the practice discontinued.
There was no mention of redress to the taxpayer for the tax dollars lost.
Now CHBC has unveiled another incident whereby they claim that $50,000 in revenue has been lost due to the regular illegal dumping of unusable construction waste at the OK Falls landfill by a company in Penticton.
In the CHBC interview with Bill Newell, the CEO of the RDOS, Newell claimed that this was a pilot project instituted to allow dumping that could be used as cover material at the landfill.
He had no adequate response to allegations CHBC made that the dumping had been going on prior to the pilot project or that much of the dumping material was unusable for landfill cover and had been buried instead.
Again no mention of redress to the taxpayer for funds lost.
Now I know that $50,000 is a drop in the bucket to the RDOS, but the question taxpayers have to ask themselves is how long does it take to earn the income to pay that $50,000 in taxes that was apparently lost forever to the taxpayer.
Who at the RDOS is responsible for regulating the landfills and when can we expect them to show some responsibility for the tax dollars they waste so easily?
Elvena Slump
Penticton
