CR&R Pays City $59K in Late Fees

For years, San Juan Capistrano’s trash hauler, CR&R, has been late paying its fees to the city, and unlike your credit card bills, there is no grace period in the city’s contract.

The result is a $59,457 check to the city the company recently paid in collective late fees.

CR&R is supposed to pay 5 percent of its gross receipts back to the city in the form of a franchise fee, the payment that secures its position as the only trash hauler in the area, according to a recent audit the city conducted.

The trash hauler is accurately calculating that fee, but it’s due on the 15th of the following month residents and local businesses pay their bills, and for the three years reviewed, CR&R has been late.

Dean Ruffridge, CR&R’s senior vice president of solid waste, said a person in accounting chose to pay the city’s fees by the 30th of the month, making the payment consistently late.

“That person has been severely reprimanded for that,” Ruffridge said. The fines represent late payments made through March of this year.

The contract with CR&R is one of the oldest in San Juan Capistrano, dating back to 1997, said Mark Alpers, senior manager with auditor R3 Consulting Group.

His audit found that CR&R was fully compliant with 70 of the 84 provisions in its contract, partially compliant with eight more, and non-compliant with two measures. The balance is made up of measures no longer applicable, he said.

“From our perspective, we feel CR&R was compliant with all the major measures of the agreement,” Alpers told the council, such as accurate billing, encouraging recycling and using alternative-fuel-powered trucks.

The audit found that San Juan Capistrano residents pay more than their neighbors in Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and San Clemente but local businesses pay less than those cities to haul commercial waste, Alpers said.

The audit also found that residents divert 60 percent of their trash from the local landfill and nearly 70 percent of construction-related debris, Alpers said. Current law requires at least half of all trash end up some place else, such as recycling centers, with that going to 75 percent by 2020.

“It brought some items that needed correction, but I think it was a good audit, and I’m glad we did it,” said Councilman Larry Kramer.