Clerk begins probe into $90,000 spent by water department

Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock has launched an inquiry into a nearly $90,000 payment by the county's water department in 2010 for work that county managers say was never done.

The supplier, Carter & VerPlanck, says the water treatment equipment was in fact delivered and that the county is mistaken but county officials disagree and are pressing for repayment.

County records show that Water Utilities Department officials notified Tampa supplier Carter & VerPlanck in November 2010 that they were withholding $89,482 from a $142,482 payment, alleging that part of the work had not been completed. But the next day, the department authorized the clerk's office to pay the full amount.

Utility officials caught the error 25 days later, but the check had been cashed. No attempt was made to recoup the money. In fact although utility officials were aware in 2010 that a payment had been made for the disputed work, records show, they did not contact Bock's office about the mistake until Monday, when they were questioned about it by The Palm Beach Post.

"The problem was it just fell through the cracks," said Assistant County Administrator Shannon LaRocque, who oversees the Water Utilities Department. "We never picked it back up."

Bock said Thursday that her staff has begun an immediate review of the payment, adding that it raises questions about the controls used by county departments to ensure that bills are paid properly.

"How does $90,000 fall through the cracks?" Bock said. "How do you get notice of it by a tip from the newspaper? That is what turns it from an everyday issue into a much more serious issue."

Carter & VerPlanck Chief Executive Saade Chibani said he didn't learn until Friday that county officials were questioning the 2010 payment, which included money for machinery, parts and labor. He welcomed Bock's review, saying the county was on a "witch hunt."

"My business has been around since 1927," Chibani said. "We aren't in business this long because we take money that was not owed to us."