WAILUKU — The county has continued to pay to dispose of junked cars, even as the recycler under contract has been accepting them free from the public for the past month and has even bought junkers at auction for recycling, The Maui News reported.

SOS Metals Island Recycling accepted vehicles from the public for free in a monthlong Valentine's "special" that ended Thursday, said Greg Benton, operations manager. He said the company received "hundreds" of cars through the offer publicized through word-of-mouth.

SOS and rival recycler Kitagawa's Towing and Transport also bought junkers for recycling at the county's last two auctions of derelicts, said Solid Waste Division Chief Tracy Takamine.

Meanwhile, the county has continued to pay SOS $108 per vehicle to dispose of abandoned cars hauled off the side of the road, he said. The fee covers the processing of vehicles taken to SOS and does not include the cost of towing handled by private contractors, also paid by the county.

Takamine acknowledged being concerned about the county paying for services others have gotten for free during the monthlong special.

"But there's nothing we can do about it. We're in a long-term contract," he said.

The county will look to make changes when that contract comes up for renewal in 2009, if the metals market is still going strong, he said.

"We definitely don't want to be paying money if we can get money," he said.

But overall, Takamine didn't think the county was getting a bad deal on the SOS contract.

"It's not always free (for the public); it's a special," he said. "The normal cost is $160, which is more than we pay."

The contract also guarantees the county will have a way to dispose of derelict and abandoned vehicles, he added, preventing another crisis.

"The recycling market goes up and down," Takamine said. "Right now it's good, but a year from now it might be bad again."

In 2004 and 2005, derelict cars and appliances piled up on county roadsides after the only scrapyard on the island was shut down for health and zoning violations. It took months before emergency permits were in place for Kitagawa's Towing and Transport to start up an auto-recycling operation, and SOS entered the market a few months later.

The county paid $483,258 on the SOS contract through the end of 2007.

County Council Member Bill Medeiros said the county should take another look at the contract.

"We should consider ways of reducing the cost to the county if these recyclers can stand alone and record a profit just from the materials they're taking," he said.

Benton said his company's popular Valentine offer was meant as a give-back by SOS to the island.

"It was like a, 'thank you Maui for your support, we love you' thing," he said, adding, "We didn't offer that to the county, of course, because we're under contract."

He said buying cars for recycling at last month's auctions was "not really profitable."

"We wanted to keep our guys busy," he said. "Our yard was basically empty."

Mike Kitagawa, owner of Kitagawa's Towing and Transport, which lost the county contract to SOS in 2006, said he was "very disappointed" that the county had not challenged SOS on its pricing.

He said that when he had the contract, he attempted to give a discounted rate on white goods to commercial haulers but was told by the county not to do so.

Recycling cars is profitable right now, he said. "We're getting a pretty fair price for metal."

Kitagawa's is also buying cars at auction, he added, to help keep up his business's materials stream, which declined after the company lost the county contract.

"I have an obligation to my metal buyer, and I need a certain volume to maintain and fulfill my contract," he said.

Takamine said the county never told Kitagawa he could not offer a discounted rate but may have told him it "didn't look right."

"We can't tell him not to do it," Takamine said. "We said, if you're charging the county one rate, how can you charge the public another rate?"

But he said no similar communication had been made to SOS.

"He doesn't check in with us and tell us what he's charging the public," he said. "We don't interfere in his private business."

For more Maui news, visit The Maui News.