Compromise may lead to resolution of dispute between correctional complex, sanitation district

By Danny Bay

An unpaid prison sewage bill continues to accrue while the ongoing dispute between the Buena Vista Sanitation District and the Department of Corrections lingers outside of litigation.

Throughout the four years in which the disagreement has extended, the unsettled debt has increased by an additional $188,188.78 to now reach a sum of $619,188.78.

“The litigation is on hold as we both evaluate our respective measuring devices, which is where the dispute really is,” said Sanitation District Attorney Bill Alderton, who was reluctant to say that the issue is flowing smoothly.

Unlike a house sewage bill that gets charged monthly from a measurement known as an Equivalent Residential Unit, the Sanitation District bills the DOC based on flow by the gallon. The flow is measured from a sample station that pulls levels on a random basis. And therein has been the dispute.

"Sometimes if the bill is too high they won't pay it," Alderton said.

According to Alderton, the DOC has built their own sampling station to analyze levels while the sanitation district also continues sampling. Both parties plan to share their evaluations.

“We have hired a private firm to check off the lab results,” Alderton said.

According to DOC spokesperson Katherine Sanguinetti, the DOC uses Ted B. Miller and Associates to monitor the flow. Measurements are calibrated four times a month.

Sanitation District Director, Patti Andreas said that the monthly prison bill fluctuates from $9,000 to $20,000 per month. But Sanguinetti said that the gage that is being calibrated and what the prison’s bill equals are two very different things.

“What they billed us for was 160 percent of the flow,” Sanguinetti said, adding that it made that particular month’s bill around $24,000. “We pay the maximum of what we think the highest possible flow could be,” she said.

Currently both parties have agreed that the litigation will be stayed as they wait to compare results. But Alderton said that if it returns to court and the judge enters a charge, the state of Colorado will ultimately have to pay the bill.

Sanguinetti said that the DOC needs to know that they’ve been properly billed. “We have got to be fiscally responsible with the taxpayers’ money and paying a bill that is incorrect is not fiscally responsible,” she said.

In 2005 State Representative Tom Massey facilitated discussions between the two parties. Before Massey’s intervention, Alderton said that the DOC refused to talk to the Sanitation District. But from Massey’s help came the agreement to share evaluations.

Both Alderton and Sanguinetti said they are confident that there will be a resolution.

“We would like to come to a compromise and that all parties walk away like they’ve been justly compensated,” Sanguinetti said.

But neither Alderton nor Sanguinetti said they could cite a time frame for such a conclusion.

“I would be surprised if it is resolved before nine months to a year, especially if it goes back into litigation,” Alderton said.


(Originally published in The Chaffee County Times)