One of Warren County’s private garbage haulers has 90 days to provide a list of customers to county officials, or about 400 homes and businesses outside Vicksburg might have to find another option.

A permit for hauling service operator Billy Drake to pick up residential and commercial garbage was revoked Wednesday after required surcharges tacked onto customer bills to fund the county’s sanitation oversight system weren’t turned in within 30 days of a letter sent to him Feb. 27, County Administrator John Smith said. Drake paid $1,700 Friday to “settle up” the debt, but the late payment drew the ire of District 5 Supervisor Richard George, in whose district Drake has much of his business.

“It would behoove us to make a decision on this,” George said, alluding to an offer from Waste Management last year during talks with the city over use of the company’s transfer station on U.S. 61 South. Based on an offer to the city to keep picking up trash inside Vicksburg, monthly fees for twice-weekly service broke down to $11.88 a month for non-municipal residents, compared to rates around $22 charged by the company outside Vicksburg. In June, the city inked a six-year deal with the company to keep them as their prime garbage collector.

The board passed George’s motion to put the revocation on hold while Drake shows a customer list and the county checks into whether the county can get similar savings from a single hauler.

“If so, we’ll advertise,” George said.

“Private hauling has been quite an ordeal. We got an outstanding proposal (last year). We didn’t act, but part of the reason was the election,” George said.

Counties in the state are barred from entering into contracts six months from the end of a term.

Permits for Drake’s family’s garbage pickup service had been revoked multiple times in the past for late payments or using improperly equipped trucks, most recently in July 2009 and in September 2008, when Billy Drake, 62, was issued the permit held by his father, Leon Drake, 90. At the time, it was understood he was essentially taking over the business.

“If you allow me to continue to operate, I’ll make sure all future payments are current,” Drake said Monday, pledging to take over the business’s daily operations more firmly. “When you’re dealing with people 90 years old, they just come out of a different time.”

Environmental Officer Kelly Worthy, who oversees the county’s database of garbage customers, said Drake simply needs to “update the customer list and stay current with payments.”

Under Warren County’s waste ordinance, private firms serve all non-city addresses. Rates charged by the small haulers have averaged in the high teens in the past decade. For each account, a $1.25 monthly surcharge is tacked onto bills, which is turned over to the county for its costs related to enforcement of solid-waste disposal rules required by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

About 5,500 people in non-municipal Warren County have garbage picked up regularly by three permitted family-run operations and three corporate haulers. Waste Management has the largest clientele, with about 4,100 customers. The other permitted companies are Earth Friends Environmental Services and Waste Pro of Mississippi. Private haulers include Drake, John Hatchett and Oscar Mayfield.

In the 1990s, the Legislature allowed counties to hold up car tag renewals for people who have delinquent garbage accounts. Warren County didn’t take advantage of the option until December 2010.

Inside Vicksburg, residential garbage fees were to fall this month, to $17.50. City officials said the rate cut was affordable because enough debt had been reduced in the solid waste fund.