Three of six permitted garbage haulers will have more time to submit updated customer lists, Warren County supervisors decided Monday in choosing to delay the issue of unifying countywide pickup under one service.

In April, supervisors gave private hauler Billy Drake 90 days to send the county a list of his customers to match with a database kept by the environmental office clerk. In recent weeks, the directive has been refashioned to apply to Drake and another small hauler, Oscar Mayfield.

The period expires July 2. Talk throughout April of a swift move to a single service brought public outcry and the board continued a slowdown on the topic when District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon brought it up Monday.

“We just sent out two notices to our private haulers,” District 5 Supervisor Richard George said. “Since we’ve noticed them, we ought to follow through with our procedure. By and large, it seems to be a desired position by a lot of the residents, for various reasons. And we’re at about halfway of the 90 days.”

Currently, residents and businesses outside the city are responsible for finding their own garbage service. About 6,500 people in non-municipal Warren County have regular pickup or have it disposed of by legal means, most commonly by taking it to a receptacle with the owner’s permission. Waste Management has the largest clientele, with about 4,800 customers. The other permitted companies are Earth Friends Environmental Services and Waste Pro of Mississippi. Private haulers are Mayfield and Drake. A sixth, John Hatchett, retired in April after more than 30 years in business.

A $1.25 surcharge is added to bills to fund the county’s environmental office, which in turn tracks the number of paying customers to keep the county compliant with rubbish disposal mandates from the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Both Drake and Mayfield are paid up through April, environmental clerk Katie Stanford said. Customer lists are more of an issue, she said. A list from Drake in April shows 181 customers, though prior lists had at least double that amount, Stanford said. Mayfield’s most recent list was in 2008 and Earth Friends last sent one in January, she said. Frequency of updates on customer lists is not spelled out in the county’s rubbish disposal ordinances, passed between 1992 and 1994.

Monthly residential garbage pickup rates vary by hauler. Waste Management’s customers pay between $22 and $27 a month. Family-run operations have charged in the high teens per month. Residential rates inside the city are $17.50.