Falls Church is off the hook for a $2.2 million prison bill after Arlington officials discovered that the bill they sent to the city was caused by an error in an outside contractor’s software.
Arlington claimed that it had made a mistake in calculating the number of prisoners being held at the detention center and county and city share and sent Falls Church a bill for additional $2.2 million. Officials announced Thursday that the bill was a mistake, that a contractor had made an error.
In a statement, Arlington officials said they regret the error and the difficulties it caused Falls Church as the city prepares its fiscal 2012 budget. With a budget of about $60 million, the extra $2.2 million bill would have been a significant payment for the city to handle.
Falls Church still owes Arlington a smaller additional expense of $123,000, which will be billed to the city in fiscal 2012.
The Arlington Sheriff’s Department will also begin preparing monthly reports on the number of Falls Church prisoners in the detention center. The reports will be shared the Falls Church Sheriff for verification to avoid similar errors in the future.
