Dept. Of Corrections To Pay Century $199K To Settle Water Suit

March 20, 2012

The Town of Century will settle a lawsuit over excessive water usage with the Florida Department of Corrections for just under $200 thousand.

The Department of Corrections will pay Century $199,194.40  to settle the lawsuit that claimed the DOC did not pay for excessive water used at the Century Correctional Institution.

Under the town’s contract to provide water for Century Correctional, there is an added charge for water usage above 6 million gallons per month. In early 2009, Mayor Freddie McCall discovered that the over-usage charge was not paid for the January 2000 to May 2008 time period.

The Town of Century’s lawsuit originally claimed the the Department of Corrections owed  $284,444.68, but McCall said two years of billing was not allowable due to the statute of limitations.

In 2008, the Town of Century was successful in recovering  $302,488.40 from the prison system for  natural gas usage at the Century Correctional Institution.

The dispute stemmed from billing practices that dated back to 2000. Under the town’s agreement with the DOC and Century Correctional Institute, the prison was to pay for natural gas at the rate of 120 percent of the town’s actual cost. The town’s billing system would generate a bill at the normal rate, then town employees would re-rate the bill and send a new bill about 10 days later at the 120 percent rate.

Pictured: Century Correctional Institution. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

12 Responses to “Dept. Of Corrections To Pay Century $199K To Settle Water Suit”

  1. well on March 22nd, 2012 8:30 pm

    Really not to much wrong with the cash cow paying the feed bill.

  2. Waterlady501 on March 22nd, 2012 8:36 am

    To Century Girl: Water service franchise areas and the boundaries of the city limits are 2 separate issues. The Escambia County (FL) established the existing water franchise areas many years ago. The site for CCI lies within the water franchise area for the Town of Century. It doesn’t matter whether or not it is within the existing city limits.

  3. Century girl on March 22nd, 2012 12:49 am

    Why does Town of Century provide water for CCI, which Is Not in the city limits? Why wouldn’t that be provided by Byrneville Water system? Finally, why would they Allow 8 years of past due water bills? How many residence WIthIN Century would be allowed to go even a couple of months before cutoff, much less 8yrs. If the town is going to provide services outside the city limits, then wouldn’t it behoove the town to annex those areas?.

  4. Waterlady501 on March 21st, 2012 1:14 pm

    Just for the record, Central Water Works does not provide water services to the prison.

  5. jw on March 20th, 2012 10:55 pm

    everytime i turn around im hearing of Century getting money for this and for that ..thousands and millions,grants..ect..What are they doing with it?Besides buying fire crackers?

  6. 429SCJ on March 20th, 2012 11:23 am

    Amen bill I wonder what the cyclic rate is on the aquifer? At six million gallons a month they have to be giving International Paper and Stone Container a run for their money. If GP puts that reactor in, they better run a pipe down to Canoe Creek, just in case.

  7. JC on March 20th, 2012 10:11 am

    Well the Department of Corrections should be able to pay for the water bill considering that they get $150.00 a day for each inmate that is housed there. Not only that whatever they make off of each inmate and their families on canteen sales.

  8. bill l on March 20th, 2012 9:38 am

    Would be cheaper to have the correction facility drill a well and not have to rely on Century and central water works.

  9. WORRIED RESIDENT on March 20th, 2012 8:58 am

    CASH COW??? I’M SURE THAT EVERY PRISON HAS A SIMILIAR POLICY WITH THE TOWN THAT IT IS IN, AND THEY ALSO PROVIDE “FREE LABOR”. IT’S THE WAY OF THE WORLD. I DON’T USUALLY LIKE FREDDIE MCCALL, BUT CUDOS TO HIM FOR CATCHING THIS!!!!

  10. 429SCJ on March 20th, 2012 6:26 am

    6,000,000 GALLONS A MONTH! Stop using those firehoses and start swinging your blackjack.

  11. Oversight on March 20th, 2012 5:54 am

    All that free labor that CCI provides the town is for naught. Century is going to keep milking the cash cow prison for all it’s worth, but soon it’ll figure out that the cow is really a bull when the gov. pulls the plug and decides to save state dollars by closing it.

  12. nudo on March 20th, 2012 5:20 am

    How do you over look 8 years of overuse charges? Yeah I know Century is such a busy place.