COEUR d'ALENE - Staff at the Prairie Transfer Station knew something was off last month when they saw an old television sitting on the railroad tracks outside the facility.

Definitely not where they had left it.

Then employees noticed holes cut in the barbed wire fence circling the station.

"That threw up the red flag," said Roger Saterfiel, director of Kootenai County Solid Waste.

And then the big moment: The padlock had been broken off the hazardous material building.

After looking over everything, staff took a quick tally: About $650 worth of brass and copper had been stolen, as well as several televisions.

"It's one of those things that they're essentially stealing from themselves, because this is taxpayer property, and when we can we sell this stuff to help subsidize our recycling," Saterfiel said. "It definitely hurts us."

It wasn't a singular occurrence.

In the last two months, the county's transfer stations in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene have seen multiple thefts, with hundreds of dollars' worth of dropped-off materials taken.

"I think it's the combination of not only have prices of recyclables gone way up, but the economy as well," Saterfiel said.

The Prairie station saw one theft of brass, copper and televisions, Saterfiel said.

The Ramsey Station has been hit with two large thefts of car batteries in the past two months, the missing items valued around $250.

Saterfiel can understand why these items were picked. The price of brass and copper has vaulted recently, he said, especially copper, which averages about $2.50 a pound.

Car and truck batteries, he added, are worth about $8 each.

"It's easy money, if they can get to it," he said.

The stolen televisions don't make much sense, though.

"There's not a lot of value in a television unless you have a lot of them," Saterfiel said.

The culprit used wire cutters to get through the barbed wire fence at the Prairie Station, as well as the chain link fence at Ramsey.

The success of the theft was no small feat, Saterfiel said. The thieves absconded with bins of copper and brass - removed by staff from old appliances - that were about 250 and 150 pounds.

"What's even more outstanding, they had to carry this stuff probably 200 to 300 yards to an adjoining field. That's where we've seen tracks that had to be a vehicle or ATV they hauled it off in," he said. "These people are not lazy. Maybe they should come in for a job application."

The car batteries at Ramsey were also carried about 100 to 400 yards, he added.

"You know how heavy a car battery is," he said. "And they're taking 25 to 30 of them at a time."

Theft at the transfer stations hasn't been a problem before, he added.

Rick Jemison, manager at Bluebird Recycling plant in Coeur d'Alene, said his company had problems with theft several years ago.

"They were climbing the fence, loading whatever they wanted and taking it out," he said.

Then the company installed a security system with video cameras, he said.

Now the plant isn't seeing theft problems like Kootenai County, Jemison said.

"I review the security system on a regular basis, and we haven't seen anything for a number of years," he said.

High-value items are now locked inside buildings at the transfer stations, Saterfiel said.

The department is looking into more security efforts like cameras, he said. The sheriff's department has agreed to increase patrols by the facilities.

The problem this theft raises for the stations, Saterfiel said, is the money used from selling batteries, copper and brass pays for the recycling of low-value items like plastics.

"You can look at it like, OK, we lost $650 worth of copper and brass, but if you really look deep into it, it takes away from us being able to recycle other things," he said. "Which means those go into the landfill, which costs money. It's a trickle-down effect."