Okaloosa County BOCC — 2013 meeting #1139 (date undetermined) — Action Item Printout — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: June 18, 2013 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Jeff Littrell SUBJECT: Payment to Emerald Coast Diversified Properties DEPARTMENT: Water and Sewer BCC DISTRICT: 3 STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Staff requests BCC approval for a payment to Emerald Coast Diversified Properties in the amount of $286,252.53 to cover over charges and interest accrued since the account was originally set up in February 2007. BACKGROUND: The customer account for Emerald Coast Diversified Properties, for the medical office building located at 1034 Mar Walt Drive, was established in February 2007, right after the building was constructed. The first actual bill was dated 02/28/2008. Based on a recent inquiry from the customer, staff conducted an internal review of the account from setup to the present. The customer originally paid for a 6" fire sprinkler line and 2" domestic water meter, which is the actual configuration in the field. Because of human error when the account was established, our billing software has been miscalculating the charges. When the account was set up, the domestic water meter was entered as being a 6" water meter instead of the actual meter size, which is a 2" water meter. This error has affected both water and sewer billing and has compounded over time, resulting in a net customer overpayment of $276,605.99. Staff believes the right thing to do is to make the customer whole, and make a payment to them in the amount the customer overpaid plus a reasonable amount of interest. The Clerk of Court Finance staff have calculated the interest on this overpayment (from February 2007 through May (2013). The methodology used to calculate the interest owed is the same as was used to calculate the interest owed to those citizens who received a refund of their MSBU fees for beach renourishment on Okaloosa Island. Using that methodology, the interest owed to Emerald Coast Diversified Properties is $9,646.54. Therefore, OCWS is requesting BCC approval for Finance to issue a check to Emerald Coast Diversified Properties for a total amount of $286,252.53 for the overcharge plus interest. OPTIONS: Approve or deny. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the Board approve a payment to Emerald Coast Diversified Properties in the amount of $286,252.53. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: Ernie Padgett, County Administrator