Arlington County officials billed Falls Church an extra $2.2 million for its share of the Arlington Detention Center, saying it discovered billing errors that show the city has been undercharged for years. Arlington analysts discovered that the county was using incorrect figures for the number of Falls Church inmates held in the jail, according to Mark Schwartz, deputy county manager. Officials determined Falls Church was being undercharged as far back as 2007.
The Arlington Detention Center holds about 600 inmates each day. The daily average has dropped the past two years, according to Schwartz. At the same time, the number of Falls Church inmates at the jail has been increasing.
“Given that the overall [jail] population has come down, and the number of Falls Church prisoners has risen the past few years, the percentage that they have to pay has gone up,” Schwartz said.
Falls Church has had an agreement with Arlington to house prisoners at the county’s facility since 1993. Right now, county officials are focused solely on bills from fiscal 2007 through 2012, Schwartz said, but the county hasn’t ruled out the possibility of extending their billing review to before 2007.
“The analysis we’ve done only goes back that far,” Schwartz said. “We are trying to work through these years to reach a consensus on that before we go back and explore further.”
County Manager Barbara Donnellan and Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields may meet by week’s end to discuss the city’s options, according to Schwartz. With a fiscal 2011 budget of $64 million, a large bill correction could be a blow the city’s finances.
Falls Church officials are reviewing the billing records with Arlington, said city spokeswoman Barbara Gordon, and expect the bill to decrease.
The surprise bill is the latest financial setback for the city, which has also been inundated with requests for refunds from businesses and residents in Fairfax County who use Falls Church’s water utilities. The requests stem from a 2010 court decision regarding the city’s practice of using excess water revenue for its general fund budget.
