OCONEE COUNTY — The company that disposes of Oconee County’s solid waste came with hat in hand Tuesday, requesting an additional $250,000 to offset the rising fuel costs of hauling the county’s trash.

Ed Gibson with Waste Management told the Oconee County Council, “I’m coming to throw ourselves on your mercy. We have some control over disposal costs, but we have no control over the cost of fuel.”

County officials were cool to the overture.

“In this budget year, I don’t know where we’d come up with another $250,000,” Council Chairman George Blanchard said.

County Administrator Dale Surrett pointed out that the county’s 10-year contract with Waste Management contains only a maximum 5 percent consumer price index increase and no separate provision tying to a rise to fuel costs. That increase goes into effect Sept. 1.

Waste Management subcontracts with haulers to transport waste, Gibson said, and provides transport as a service without profit. But the doubling of fuel costs has sent the cost per ton for hauling higher than the cost of disposal.

It now costs $18.81 per ton to haul the county’s 100 to 120 tons of trash to Waste Management’s landfill in Homer, Ga., Gibson said.

Waste Management currently charges $31.54 per ton, of which $18.62 is the disposal charge and $12.92 is the hauling charge.

Gibson asked the county to consider an adjustment to $37.43 per ton to reflect the hike in transport costs.

The increase would total $250,000 next year, Surrett said.

“You would have to raise your own rates to compensate,” Surrett told council members.

Oconee County’s 2008-09 budget included an increase in tipping fees at the county’s transfer station -- from $38.50 to $45 per ton.

Surrett reminded council members that state law does not require the county to provide solid waste disposal.

“You can get out of the solid waste business altogether,” Surrett told the council. “You can let the market prevail; there’s plenty of private haulers out there.”

Blanchard said Waste Management should not expect a quick response from the county.

“We’ll need to discuss this in an executive session, since it’s a contractual matter,” Blanchard said.

Waste Management hoped for an answer by Sept. 1, according to Gibson. Oconee County is in the fifth year of the ten-year contract with Waste Management.