W.Va. state govt. may owe 3 phone companies $5.6 million in unpai...
W.Va. state govt. may owe 3 phone companies $5.6 million in unpaid phone charges for services over last 3 years because of “gross negligence” by former manager in state Div. of Communications & Information Services who was in charge…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
of internal system for billing bulk phone charges to state’s 570 individual agencies. State’s new Secy. of Administration, Greg Burton, estimated state could owe Verizon $4.1 million, Citizens Telecom $1 million, AT&T $500,000. But Burton plans meetings soon with companies to pin down actual amounts. Problem arose because former manager apparently didn’t want responsibility of verifying and distributing monthly bills and just kept recycling past statements. Manager resigned last fall when persistent carrier inquiries about state underpayments prompted administrative investigation. Problem for state and carriers is that back bills from 1998 and 1999 can’t be paid from current state budget without special act of legislature.