County overpaid for utilities

County overpaid for utilities

West Memphis to issue refund for old hospital bill

news@theeveningtimes.com

Crittenden County got a nice surprise from West Memphis Utilities.

The county found out that it had overpaid for utilities on the former Crittenden Regional Hospital and will get back about $25,000.

County Judge Woody Wheeless said West Memphis Utilities overbilled them by about $47,000.

“When Arkansas Community Corrections took over the utilities April 1 (Assistant Utilities Manager) Todd Pedersen came to my office and showed me where they had made an error in billing the county,” Wheeless told the Quorum Court. “So there was something good that came out of this in the end.”

Wheeless said he had West Memphis Utilities deduct what the county owed and apply the overpayment to its last utility bill.

“We should be receiving a check for about $25,000,” Wheeless said.

The county will also be getting its $35,000 deposit back as well.

Justice Vickie Robertson chuckled at the news because she had consistently questioned the high utility bill the county was paying on the old hospital.

“I was always squawking that the bill was too high,” Robertson, the court’s budget hawk, joked. “Now you will learn to listen to

me.” The county recently approved

leasing the former

hospital building to Arkansas Department of Community Corrections for a rehabilitation treatment center which will house 350 non-violent female drug offenders and create 138 new jobs.

The county was spending about $30,000 a month to keep the utilities, security, and insurance on at the former

hospital.

By Mark Randall