A trash hauler tips waste at the Harrisburg incinerator. (File photo.)

When a south Harrisburg apartment complex filed a lawsuit against the city last week, it hoped to challenge what it called an “unconscionable” new city bill for trash pickup, one it says would more than triple what it pays a private hauler to provide the same services.

But the city says the suit, filed by Harrisburg Park Apartments, an affordable-housing complex in the 1400-block of S. 15th St., instead demonstrates one of the reasons officials are overhauling sanitation in the first place: private haulers are dodging city dumping rules.

An invoice attached to the complaint, from the complex’s private hauler Republic Services, strongly suggests the company is evading the $190-per-ton charge to dump trash at the city incinerator, Mayor Eric Papenfuse told reporters Tuesday.

“If you look closely at the lawsuit, they put forth a bunch of assertions and facts which would tend to support our contention,” Papenfuse said. “It’s direct proof of the fact…that they’re not paying the city rate. They’re paying the county rate.”

The Harrisburg incinerator charges vastly different rates for municipal waste based on where it originates—$190 per ton to dump waste from Harrisburg, as opposed to $80 per ton for waste originating anywhere else in Dauphin County.

The incinerator does not specifically monitor where the trash is from, depending instead on an honor system in which haulers themselves declare the point of origin.

“We rely upon the haulers to be honest and forthright,” said Katie Sandoe, a spokesperson for the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, which bought the incinerator in 2013. Sandoe said the authority also reviews historical totals for disparities, which it has not detected.

Robert Hasemeier, a consulting engineer who worked on a recent audit of city sanitation services, estimated there were 6,000 to 8,000 tons of city trash that were declared each year as having originated elsewhere.

Presented with these numbers, Sandoe said the authority has “not seen the type of disparity that’s being described,” though she did say she was referring to recent disparities, rather than the historic shortfalls the city claims it has been facing.

According to the suit, Republic Services charges the apartment complex $2,200 per month to pick up trash twice per week from its five, six-cubic-yard dumpsters.

The weight of the trash would vary considerably depending on what sort of materials are in it and how full the dumpsters are, and without a breakdown of tonnage in the invoice, it’s uncertain how many tons Republic is transporting to the incinerator from the complex each month.

But assuming the dumpsters are only half full, and using an industry estimate of 200 pounds per cubic yard of household trash, the monthly total would be around 12 tons of garbage.

The cost of dumping that amount of garbage alone, and excluding personnel and other costs, would be $2,304 if the company were properly declaring its origin.

A customer service representative at Republic Services referred questions to Andy Warntz, an area sales manager, who could not be reached Tuesday.

Harrisburg Park says its complaint was prompted by a February letter notifying local businesses that the city would be taking over all waste collection and recycling within its boundaries this year.

The letter noted that several properties previously relied on private haulers for such services, but that the city was compelled to reclaim those accounts to meet “trash volume requirements” agreed to in the course of the incinerator sale.

The city must deliver 35,000 tons to the incinerator each year or else pay to cover the shortfall, providing extra incentive to recover lost city accounts, especially if the audit has correctly estimated the amount of trash being improperly declared.

“We are confident the city’s waste disposal and collection services will meet or exceed the services provided by private haulers and potentially save your business money,” said the letter, which was signed by the mayor and public works director.

According to the lawsuit, however, a new bill based on existing city rates would more than triple Harrisburg Park’s current trash costs, bringing them from Republic’s $2,200 per month to nearly $7,500.

The strongly-worded complaint blasts the city’s takeover, calling its rates “facially unconscionable,” “unreasonable and absurd” and “usury.”

It claims the city takeover, if not prevented by the court, would either force the owner to charge higher rent from tenants or go bankrupt and close the property, thereby reducing the stock of affordable housing available to low-income families.

Jordan Cunningham, a partner at the law firm Cunningham, Chernicoff and Warshawsky, which is representing Harrisburg Park in the complaint, could not be reached Tuesday. Ralph Salvia, another attorney at the firm, declined to comment, saying only that the complaint had to be re-filed to remedy a procedural error.

Papenfuse, for his part, said he has arranged to meet with Harrisburg Park’s attorneys to explain the city’s position. In the meantime, he offered his own opinion of the lawsuit, which he says is not the first one that has been threatened over the sanitation takeover.

“There is no merit to their case at all,” he said.