A scale that weighs incoming loads of trash at the city's Waimanalo Gulch dump remained broken late yesterday — two days after officials said they expected it to be fixed.

Meanwhile, the company that runs the site has fired a manager who allegedly received improper payments from companies that dump dirt and debris there.

And a city councilman who represents the area said he may soon call for an independent investigation of the dump's various problems.

Dump operator Waste Management Inc. has scheduled a news conference for this morning regarding its efforts to have the scale repaired. The company said it was also ordering a new scale.

Waste Management said Friday that it has worked since May to address the problems, and hoped to have the scale working properly by Saturday night.

But a former scale attendant said she and a co-worker repeatedly warned of the faulty scale many months ago — and were ignored.

Waste Management did not directly address that allegation but said yesterday that "We immediately address any concerns brought up by scale attendants, both this month and throughout our operating the facility."

The company declined to release any details regarding the fired manager's alleged improper activities.

Attendants have been estimating the weight of trash loads while the scale is broken. The city normally charges $92 per ton.

Neither Waste Management nor city officials could say how much revenue may have been lost by estimates that have been kept low so as not to overcharge trash haulers.

The dump handles about 100 loads of trash on most days, and the former attendant estimated that the scale could have been off by half a ton per load for months.

The city is preparing to seek a 20-month extension of its state permit to operate the dump, which expires in less than one year. The site is located off Farrington Highway, near Kahe Point on the Leeward Coast.

Officials plan to ask later that the size of the dump be expanded as well, and that it be allowed to operate for at least 15 more years.

Waste Management said problems with the scale don't make it any harder to estimate how much space remains available in the area covered by the dump's current permit.

That information is calculated by surveying the site from aircraft overhead, the company said.

City Councilman Todd Apo said he was very disappointed that officials did not disclose the scale's problems while updating a council panel about dump operations during a meeting last week.

Council Planning and Sustainability Committee Chairman Gary Okino said he also was disturbed by the scale's problems but did not suspect any deliberate wrongdoing.

"It seems like a kind of maintenance problem," he said. "I don't see any impropriety, like anyone's trying to cheat the city. I don't see any evil agenda."

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.