Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins and village officials discovered that the village was paying bills for dumping of garbage collected by a private company and is now expected to file a lawsuit this week in Nassau County Supreme Court in an attempt to recuperate taxpayer money.

One of Mayor Martins' major budget initiatives is frequent budgetary reviews during the course of the fiscal year to make sure revenues are meeting expenses. In January, while reviewing the 2003-2004 budget, Martins' first as mayor, village officials checked into tipping fees, which are fees the village pays to the Town of North Hempstead for garbage dumping.

Since tipping fees are a big ticket item with over a million dollars in yearly expenses, village officials and the mayor took a close look and discovered there were some discrepancies in solid waste disposal. After further investigation, it was discovered that the bills and expenses weren't consistent.

After obtaining records under the Freedom of Information Law from the Town of North Hempstead, it was discovered that the village was being billed by the town for dumping garbage that was picked up by a private carting company.

Garbage collected by the village's sanitation department is brought to the town's transfer station and the town charges the village per pound of refuse. However, the village would not be responsible for paying for dumping by a private carting company. Since the village has its own sanitation department, it should only be billed for garbage dumped by the sanitation department.

Superintendent of Public Works for the Village of Mineola Tom Rini, who had a hand in discovering the error, said a red flag was raised when records revealed garbage was being dumped on a Saturday, something the village does not do.

Mr. Rini helped trace the dumping back to one truck and the company, Waste Management Inc. It is Mayor Martins' and the village officials' position that Waste Management Inc. was picking up garbage, dumping it and the Town of North Hempstead was billing the Village of Mineola, which had been paying the bill.

Attorney John Gibbons, who is handling the case for the village, and Mayor Martins estimate that the payment of the bills could date back as far as 20 to 30 years.

Mr. Gibbons said he has had discussions with representatives of Waste Management who, he said, confirmed that it was dumping at the town and the town was billing the village. "Waste Management is showing up at the store and using our credit card," Mr. Gibbons said.

According to Mayor Martins, when the village discovered the bills, it stopped paying them. From Dec. 2003 to present, the village saved approximately $67,000 by not paying the bills.

At a special session of the board of trustees on Wednesday, Dec. 8, Mayor Martins and trustees Larry Werther, Lou Santosus, Linda Fairgrieve and Paul Cusato voted unanimously to commence a civil suit against Waste Management Inc., the Town of North Hempstead and the Town of North Hempstead Waste Management Authority.

The hope for the village is to recuperate as much money that was paid over the years as possible. "Our responsibility is to go and get our money back. This is one more step we're taking to protect residents," Mayor Martins said.

The investigation was commenced by Mayor Martins less than a year after taking office in April 2003, although bills were being paid years prior to that. "I can't tell you why other people haven't picked up on it," he said, adding that frequent reviews of the budget led to discover the bills.

Mr. Gibbons said Waste Management has cooperated by confirming that the village has been billed for garbage dumped by their company, but hasn't been willing to sit down and negotiate for a monetary reimbursement. Mayor Martins said he doesn't see a commitment from the town in taking an active roll in clearing the matter up.

Mr. Gibbons believes the garbage may have been picked up from some Mineola businesses, but it would be up to those businesses to make their own arrangements with the town without the village getting involved.

Mayor Martins said that he has reached out to other villages and asked them to check their records so that other villages can see if this has been going on elsewhere.

The mayor made it clear this is not a criminal investigation and if there is any criminal element discovered, it will be referred to the Nassau County District Attorney's office.

In response to the inevitable lawsuit, Town of North Hempstead spokesman David Chauvin said, "The town at this point has no information and we have not had any communication from the Village of Mineola regarding any lawsuit of this nature."