Deadlines for garbage haulers in nonmunicipal Warren County to submit updated customer lists to county officials have been relaxed until after Jan. 1, as supervisors continued covering delinquent customer bills.

The board approved a $24,279.51 loan Monday from the general fund to the garbage fund, the second interfund loan in six weeks to the pool of money set aside to collect the $1.25 surcharge on residential and commercial garbage bills that keeps the county compliant with state-set rubbish disposal laws. Monday’s loan makes for $58,953.37 transferred so far.

An effort to firm up address lists to determine how many households are actively paying for garbage service continues with help from the Information Systems Department, Warren County Environmental Officer Kelly Worthy said.

Waste Management, the county’s largest provider, and Earth Friends Environmental Services have handed in customer lists recently, Worthy said, as well as one of three individual haulers. Last fiscal year, payments to the providers to cover gaps left by customers who moved without notifying anyone or businesses no longer in existence outpaced collections by a ratio of more than 2-to-1. It prompted supervisors to seek proposals for a new collection agency to handle garbage cases.

New lists had been requested in time for the start of the new fiscal year in October. Worthy cited current economic conditions as a reason to remain lenient with haulers’ permit status as his office waits for fresh figures. Totals from earlier this year showed 5,420 active accounts, meaning slightly fewer than half the nonmunicipal households in Warren County were paying.

A third corporate provider, Greenville-based Griffin Waste Services, has begun garbage collection in northwest Warren County, Worthy said. The county awaits acknowledgement forms representing each customer as part of the database building process.

“It’s not a contract. It’s just a form saying you have permission to pick that person’s garbage up,” Worthy said.

County boards do not have to operate waste collection services, but must have comprehensive ordinances describing how waste is collected and disposed of in nonmunicipal areas. Here, supervisors franchise private collection services and are supposed to have a comprehensive list accounting for how waste is handled from every postal address.

Households not recorded as having paid the monthly surcharge must provide proof in writing that they are attempting to lawfully dispose of residential and commercial garbage. Permission can be given from the owner of a commercial receptacle and residents can also take it to Waste Management themselves if documented.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.