Poised to profit by nearly $750,000 a year in the controversial deal: Allied.

But instead of signing off, members of the council that oversee the landfill took shots at, and postponed a vote on, the proposal during a contentious meeting last week that one Allied lobbyist lamented as a drive-by shooting.

It came on the last day of work for county Public Works Director John Patterson - he has taken a new job as Ogden's chief administrative officer - who told some at the meeting the dissent was enough to make him vomit.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Salt Lake County and Allied calls for the waste-management company to take garbage from the county's transfer station to Tooele County, and deliver 600 daily tons of garbage to the Salt Lake County landfill. Terms call for the county to pay Allied $23.85 per ton. The county receives $22 per ton in tipping fees for the trash delivered to the county's landfill.

The contract did not say how much waste Allied would receive.

County officials argue the deal would save taxpayers up to $600,000 a year because costs associated with county vehicles hauling waste to the far-west-side landfill would be averted.

"It's really a trade," says Chief Administrative Officer Doug Willmore, who noted the plan guarantees a waste stream - and thus revenue - for the county. "It makes us money."

Associate Public Works Director Jason Godfrey says the deal benefits the county because the waste can be dropped in five minutes at the transfer station, located at 502 W. 3300 South in South Salt Lake, while Allied's trucks take if from there to Tooele.

Currently, the county sends excess waste from the transfer station by rail to the East Carbon landfill in central Utah.

Godfrey calls the plan a reciprocal agreement.

But internal audit Director Jim Wightman questions the discrepancy in tonnage charges. For instance, he notes, Allied bills Weber County $22 per ton, not $23.85, to haul waste more than twice as far. Wightman also worries two five-year renewal options could lock in the rate for more than a decade, while landfill officials and private haulers say the accurate market rate is closer to $21 per ton.

"It flies in the face of smart business," he says. "It's like we're putting our arm around our closest competitor in a sweetheart deal."

According to analysis by county auditors, the per-ton rate difference equals $438,000, while garbage-preparation costs at the transfer station adds another $300,000 per year that would go to Allied.

The proposal also has private trash haulers and officials at the Trans-Jordan Landfill crying foul. They say the deal retools a long-standing contract, and they wonder why the service was never put out for bid.

"It's been hatched in private," says Dwayne Woolley, general manager for Trans-Jordan, which services seven cities in the south valley.

He worries the agreement could prompt rate increases, and he fears the loss of long-term business once Allied completes its own transfer station slated for next year.

"It seems like just another deal the county's making."

But it may never get made if the District Attorney's Office is consistent.

Last December, the DA penned a letter saying a similar proposal from Allied to amend the county's waste agreement would "operate to the financial and functional detriment of the landfill and to the significant detriment of both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County."

Attorneys for the DA recently told auditors that, for the same reasons, the latest contract is inappropriate.

Allied lobbyists argue it will benefit children if approved, since a percentage must go to the state's school trust fund, which owns the land at the Tooele facility. During last week's meeting, Patterson said Allied would waive a proposed 26-cent-per-ton increase if the county approved the MOU.

Godfrey concedes multiple parties have complained the process was not transparent. But he rejects any notion the county is creating a sweetheart deal.

"From our standpoint, we don't see how it creates an unfair advantage."

Still, Wightman says traditional MOUs do not change contract terms. And, he said, nobody at the county saw the contract until the day before the landfill council meeting.

"Talk about a drive-by shooting," he says, throwing the Allied lobbyist's words back at him.

Darrin Casper, fiscal analyst for the County Council acknowledges he was caught off guard by the secret agreement.

"I want to see where the money is going and whether it's beneficial or detrimental to the county," Casper says, adding that neither he nor the chief financial officer for the county was given a chance to review the numbers.

Officials have yet to schedule a date for a new vote.

djensen@sltrib.com