Sep. 22—The town of Walkersville has voted 3-1 to pay J & J Trash Service nearly $300,000 after the company failed to bill the town for fees dating back to October 2020.

During an Aug. 24 meeting, Town Manager Sean Williams told the town council that Walkersville owes J & J, which is in Mount Airy, more than $294,000. Council members were not happy.

"I can't believe, you know, we've looked at contracts from year to year to year to year and all of the sudden, you got a $300,000 shortfall?" Commissioner Tom Gilbert said.

"I have some strong opinions on this," Williams said.

After considering whether it could challenge the bill, the town agreed on Sept. 14 to pay the company for tipping fees covering October 2020 to June 2022. The total amount will be $296,327.36.

During the Aug. 24 meeting, Williams gave an approximate breakdown of the fees for each year.

From October 2020 to December 2020, the fees were more than $43,000. For 2021, the fees total $155,000. From January to July 2022, fees were $96,177.75.

Commissioner Mary Ann Brodie-Ennis voted no on the Sept. 14 motion.

In an interview Wednesday, Brodie-Ennis said she voted no for the amount of money the town would pay. She would have been willing to pay some, but not all, she said.

"My thinking was, well, it's the company's responsibility to track and make sure that their billing is correct and updated. It's not our responsibility to do that," she said.

On Aug. 25, J & J Trash Service President John Cavell said in an interview that the company made a mistake. It thought the city was getting billed for the tipping fees, but found the mistake through an audit.

"Moving forward, it won't happen again," Cavell said.

Cavell could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Williams said he and J & J discovered during their conversations how the mishap happened.

J & J takes the trash it collects to the Frederick County Division of Solid Waste and Recycling to dump it, Williams said.

Trucks are weighed entering and exiting the facility to figure out the net weight of the trash, Phil Harris, director of the county's Division of Solid Waste and Recycling, said. A tipping fee is then applied to the weight.

According to the division's website, if a municipality pays with a credit card, it pays $79.96 a ton. It gets a bill, Harris said.

Most municipalities have the bill sent directly to them. Others, like Walkersville, have their bill sent to their trash hauler.

Currently, Williams said he's looking into amending this year's contract with J & J to have the city get the bill, rather than use J & J as an intermediary.

Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel