In the latest ridiculous chapter in the book of Ferriday’s government woes, the town’s contracted garbage collection company threw up its hands in frustration last week.

The problem, it seems, is a past-due bill of more than $200,000 the town apparently owes the company, Waste Management.

Who could blame Waste Management for crying foul?

In a written statement, the company suggested it had been trying to work with the Town of Ferriday since 2011 trying to get the bill handled.

Cutting off a customer is obviously a drastic move. Most companies do this only as a last resort, when they feel it’s their only option to either spur the non-paying customer into paying or to simply cut the company’s losses.

Waste Management is a huge company. This isn’t their first rodeo, so we have to assume the company jumped through all reasonable hoops to get the matter resolved.

For a town the size of Ferriday, $200,000 is a substantial debt.

Census numbers from 2010 indicate approximately 1,300 occupied households were in the town so the garbage debt is more than $153 per household.

Ferriday’s Mayor Gene Allen immediately started pointing the finger at the previous administration, during whose term the bill was accumulated, he said.

Regardless of who was “on watch” when the garbage bill began going unpaid, it’s the responsibility of the current administration to address the matter and make a plan to get the debt paid quickly before the town is dragged to court and sued, which would obviously cost residents even more.

Ferriday needs to stop talking trash, blaming others and resolve the problem.