County, state settle argument over $136,000

County, state settle argument over $136,000

Oct. 28, 2000

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

Montezuma County Social Services will not have to pay $136,000 back to the state for already-completed case work because a paperwork snafu that caused a dispute was solved this week.

An ongoing clash between the county and the Colorado Department of Human Services over how child-welfare cases in Montezuma County were itemized for state and federal reimbursement led state social-service officials to demand repayment of the funds paid to the county, even though the case work had been successfully completed.

The problem stemmed from the fact that county social-services officers did not log specific hours between 1994 and 1998 for legal cases involving child welfare and support enforcement. It was resolved Thursday after social-services Director Dennis Story agreed to pull up old court records and document the case work completed by county attorney Bob Slough on an estimated hourly basis.

"I believe that documentation would be enough to satisfy our federal auditors," said Marva Livingston Hammons, executive director of the state human-services department, on Thursday during a tense phone conference between county and state budget officials. "This was not meant to be derogatory in any way or imply that the work was not done."

A tight budget makes it too expensive for the county to cover its 30-percent share of the social-services program if Slough bills for his work hourly. The rest of the bill is picked up by state and federal money.

To avoid a budget crunch brought on by sinking property-tax revenues in 1993, Slough agreed to go from billing hourly for his services to a flat-fee contract with the commissioners for his legal guidance on all child-welfare and support cases.

"Because this arrangement was cost-effective, our fiscal health began to improve," Dennis Story stated in a letter to the Department of Human Services. "(Now) child-support staff have greater access to an attorney without the worry of creating billable hours beyond their budgets."

Described as a innovative "win-win" agreement for all involved, the matter only became a problem when it was forced to conform to a complex state-government system.

"The state needs to realize what a great deal they are getting from us," said Commissioner Kent Lindsay.

The contract did not require Slough to turn in hours worked per case, and he did not. But the commission pointed out that if he did, it would show Slough has done more work than he would have otherwise been reimbursed for under an hourly-billing system.

Story and the commission applauded Slough for his dedicated and efficient system for dealing with a growing number of child-support and welfare cases for a set payment.

"We have a very effective system that saves the state money and allows us to continue paying for the service with a limited budget," said Commissioner Gene Story. "Our attorney does a very good job handling a case load that gets bigger every year."

Now the county must come up with a system to account by hour for cases completed since 1998 in time for the next Department of Human Services audit, said Kathy Talcott, chief financial officer for social services.

Meanwhile the flat-fee system paid to Slough will continue.