In an effort to crack down on contractors skipping out on their bills, health department officials have procured a credit card reader for the county landfill in Libby.

Tasked with looking into ways to help pay for the facility’s forthcoming expansion, department officials last year revealed that about a quarter of contractor invoices for use of the landfill go unpaid. When Kathi Hooper, department director, asked for advice on how to collect those fees last year, county commissioners suggested making them pay upfront with plastic.

On March 9, Hooper announced the department had received a credit card reader. Still, that left the question of the overdue bills.

“We have about $47,000 of past due invoices at the landfill,” Hooper said. “There are a few from Stinger and Shopko and a couple others that I can take off, but that’s just a few thousand. We have a few contractors that regularly use the landfill and never pay the bill.”

Hooper told the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners that letters sent out to the debtors routinely went unanswered.

“They do receive monthly past due notices, but that doesn’t encourage them to pay,” she said.

With the commissioners mulling over the problem, Hooper said she planned to send another round of invoices with “last warning” written on them.

She also worried that contractors might turn to the county’s greenbox sites or take other measures to avoid paying the landfill fee. She worried they may end up disposing of excess material on private property “and then we end up with another violation.”

As far as the credit card reader, Hooper expressed hopes it would ease the payment process. The department also wants to explore accepting plastic at its office in the county annex on Mineral Avenue, she said.

“We would like a credit card reader at the office where people have the option to pay for septic permits or vaccines, but we have to work with [the county treasurer] on that,” she told commissioners. “It can be confusing.”

County Commissioner Jerry Bennett (D-2) applauded that idea.

“We really need to start moving that way,” he said. “I may be the last dinosaur carrying cash.”