OAKLAND >> There may be a lot more at stake soon for the family that owns Oakland’s recycling contractor, but at the moment they’ve agreed to offer the city’s customers thousands of dollars in refunds.

California Waste Solutions, which is separately at the center of a wide-reaching federal investigation of corruption in Oakland, was sued by the city in 2021 for overcharging owners of multi-family housing properties.

Refunds are now available to more than 100 property owners, with two of them eligible to receive as much as $100,000 each in refunds, the Oakland City Attorney’s Office said Monday.

The city’s announcement arrived on the heels of bombshell felony charges rolled out Jan. 17 against California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, along with ex-Mayor Sheng Thao and her romantic partner, Andre Jones.The pair are accused of bribing Thao and Jones to secure access to lucrative contracts with the city of Oakland — a blockbuster case that has cast a cloud over City Hall.

The felony case isn’t related to the refunds being offered to customers who get their recycling picked up by California Waste Solutions. The company had agreed to pay out refunds in a 2021 settlement and notices went out to customers early last year.

But a sudden influx of 100 new claims in recent months prompted the city to extend the deadline for claims to April 11. Payouts in the initial settlement were expected to total around $6 million.

The size of the refunds announced Monday by the city provided insight into how much money goes into the largely unnoticed world of recycling and garbage contracts, which first granted the Duong family significant power and influence in Bay Area politics in the 1990s.

Those who received refund notices early last year can claim them by responding with a confirmation of address.

“We urge property owners who might be eligible for a refund to submit a claim. The City would like to make sure affected Oaklanders receive the money they are due,” Oakland City Attorney Ryan Richardson said in a statement Monday.

As part of the 2021 settlement, California Waste Solutions agreed to reduce by about 82% how much it charged for a premium service billed to customers who leave recycling carts — those often-gray-colored containers on wheels — in their backyards.

Originally, the city claimed in its 2017 lawsuit, the company had charged those customers the same amount that it did for needing to push “large and heavy recycling metal bins” — the giant ones that are usually shared by many units in an apartment complex — to the curbside for collection.

The two different services were accidentally combined by an omission in the city’s recycling contract with California Waste Solutions, then-City Attorney Barbara Parker’s office asserted at the time.

The result, as alleged by the city, was that multi-family property owners were being overcharged as much as $9,313 in excess each year between 2015 and 2021.

The company initially denied the city’s claim that the contract language was an accident, but the discrepancy was stark: owners of single-family homes were being charged a flat rate of $27.85 per month, but owners of multi-family dwellings were billed a monthly $187 for the same service.

Ultimately, California Waste Solutions settled, agreeing to refund customers and lower its rates. Today, they charge $39.62 for the monthly “premium” service of retrieving recycling carts from backyards.

Oakland’s 20-year recycling contract with California Waste Solutions is set to last through June 2035.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that Thao, the former mayor, had promised father-son duo David and Andy Duong to grant both a new recycling deal and another lucrative contract for affordable housing, which had become a side business for the family.

Recycling has been the key to wealth and success for the Duong family, who first immigrated to the Bay Area from Vietnam and have raked in millions over the ensuing years, including through lucrative contracts with the cities of Oakland and San Jose.

The company’s headquarters on Oakland’s waterfront was among the addresses raided last June by FBI agents. Earlier this month, David and Andy Duong were charged with felony bribery and conspiracy. They face up to 20 years in prison on the most serious charge.

Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland who can be reached via call or text at 510-905-5495.