MONROE - Tax Increment District (TID) 8 in Monroe will be paying an additional $22,000 for sewer and water extensions put in more than three years ago.
Last month, Fehr-Graham and Associates submitted invoices totaling about $35,000 for engineering services they performed in 2007.
George Thompson, supervisor of the wastewater treatment utility, said he reviewed the original contract with the firm and found the new bills were for more than the contracted amount.
Thompson, Carol Stamm, city clerk, and Suzie Shaw, accounting manager, met with Todd Weegens, a partner with Fehr-Graham and Associates, and negotiated reducing the bill to about $22,000.
For its part, Fehr-Graham and Associates wrote off $13,000.
Thompson said most of the bill reduction came from adhering to the contracted cap on the number of hours worked for field observation of construction. Field observation was billed at $800 per hour.
The Board of Public Works approved the adjustments, rendered the bills payable as money becomes available and sent the bills to the Finance and Taxation Committee.
Weegens said these particular invoices were prepared and shown as outstanding, but he could not verify they were sent to or received by the city. With the recent retirements of leadership in the Monroe Fehr-Graham office, Weegens called dealing with past invoicing issues - "a painful and rather humiliating" process.
"I am convinced it was a total lack of follow through on the part of the Monroe office," Weegens said. "I'm embarrassed, and I can't apologize enough."
TID 8 lies along Mansion Drive and northward along 18th Avenue to Wisconsin 11/81, in the north central area of the city.
It was the only tax increment district in the city to increase its equalized value last year, compared to 2009. Its equalized value rose $23,000, or 1 percent, from 2009.
Its current value, $2.6 million, is $306,000 more than its 2007 base value. Tax revenues raised on the increased value of a TID are returned to the district for improvements.
The equalized values were calculated using property value assessments from November 2009 and adjusted for economic change, new construction and other adjustments or corrections.
Last month, Fehr-Graham and Associates submitted invoices totaling about $35,000 for engineering services they performed in 2007.
George Thompson, supervisor of the wastewater treatment utility, said he reviewed the original contract with the firm and found the new bills were for more than the contracted amount.
Thompson, Carol Stamm, city clerk, and Suzie Shaw, accounting manager, met with Todd Weegens, a partner with Fehr-Graham and Associates, and negotiated reducing the bill to about $22,000.
For its part, Fehr-Graham and Associates wrote off $13,000.
Thompson said most of the bill reduction came from adhering to the contracted cap on the number of hours worked for field observation of construction. Field observation was billed at $800 per hour.
The Board of Public Works approved the adjustments, rendered the bills payable as money becomes available and sent the bills to the Finance and Taxation Committee.
Weegens said these particular invoices were prepared and shown as outstanding, but he could not verify they were sent to or received by the city. With the recent retirements of leadership in the Monroe Fehr-Graham office, Weegens called dealing with past invoicing issues - "a painful and rather humiliating" process.
"I am convinced it was a total lack of follow through on the part of the Monroe office," Weegens said. "I'm embarrassed, and I can't apologize enough."
TID 8 lies along Mansion Drive and northward along 18th Avenue to Wisconsin 11/81, in the north central area of the city.
It was the only tax increment district in the city to increase its equalized value last year, compared to 2009. Its equalized value rose $23,000, or 1 percent, from 2009.
Its current value, $2.6 million, is $306,000 more than its 2007 base value. Tax revenues raised on the increased value of a TID are returned to the district for improvements.
The equalized values were calculated using property value assessments from November 2009 and adjusted for economic change, new construction and other adjustments or corrections.