MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County officials have made efforts in recent years to collect on unpaid garbage fees, but now some of the bills will be trashed as the deadline for collection efforts has passed.

Writing off more than $250,000 in garbage fees will be on Colquitt County Commission’s agenda on Tuesday night.

“There were a lot of old ones — really, really old ones that are too old to collect by virtue of the statute of limitation,” Colquitt County Attorney Lester Castellow said during a Monday telephone interview.

After a garbage customer becomes delinquent the county’s Solid Waste Department tries traditional collection methods, but in exceptional cases it can seek a lien on property and even sell property to satisfy the responsibility.

Residential garbage collection started in the county in 1994, when county commissioners mandated county pick-up in unincorporated portions of the county. Residents who at that time contracted with a private waste hauler were allowed to continue using that service.

The garbage ordinance, and monthly fees, proved unpopular among a number of residents, some of whom refused to pay or use the plastic carts placed at residences. The ordinance even sparked a lawsuit in federal court that sought to strike it down, but eventually a judge tossed the suit and ruled in favor of the county.

Ultimately, some bills went unpaid, with some residents not paying for years, past the seven-year period in which they could be collected.

County officials collected hundreds of thousands of dollars owed, with uncollected bills at one time amounting to $800,000. But about $264,000 of uncollected garbage fees on the book are in the not-collectable category.

So the waiver of the unpaid bills is a bookkeeping measure that accepts that reality.

“It creates a headache for us,” Colquitt County Administrator Chas Cannon said as the unpaid fees are still on the books. “And it’s no longer collectable. We’re going to get them off their books.”

The county does not plan to repeat the mistake in the future.

“We’re still getting the (delinquent) ones that are current,” Cannon said.

Commission meets at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Colquitt County Courthouse Annex.