VENTURA : Company Told Not to Bill Others for Error

Ventura’s trash hauler may not charge other customers more because it underbilled Councilman Jim Monahan’s business for more than a year, a council committee said Wednesday.

The hauler, E. J. Harrison, discovered the discrepancy in Monahan’s bill when it conducted an internal audit in June. The council’s environment committee asked to review the issue because Harrison has an exclusive franchise agreement with Ventura.

Monahan and Harrison officials have agreed that Monahan should pay part of the balance owed the hauler. From February, 1993, to June, 1994, a business that rents space from Monahan’s company used a 600-gallon trash bin. But Monahan received a bill for two 64-gallon trash barrels from Harrison.

He maintains, however, that his tenant only needed a 300-gallon bin. Monahan and Harrison officials have agreed that he should only have to pay the difference between the rate for a 300-gallon bin and the two barrels.

That means, in effect, that Monahan would save about $400 because the bill for the 600-gallon bin would have been $1,250. The bill for the 300-gallon bin is about $860.

He has already paid Harrison about $460 for the two-barrel service.

On Wednesday, the council committee decided that whoever pays the remaining $400 that Harrison did not receive, it should not be other customers. Council members gave Harrison officials the option of sending a bill for the balance to Monahan or taking the money out of their profits.