Irrigation commissioner looks into dam license lawsuit finances

In my letter to the Leader published in late February this year, I stated that I opposed the Flathead Joint Board of Control 2016 budget adopted in February because I thought that it understated “the potential legal costs given the Flathead Joint Board of Control’s three ambitious legal initiatives.” My view was criticized in later letters, but only six months later, events have proved me right. Legal bills associated with litigation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) totaled $265,876 from January 1 to mid-August. That amount is more than two times the $120,000 budgeted for the entire year. Given that total Flathead Joint Board of Control payments to the law firm from January to mid-August totaled only $148,670, past due payments in mid-August amounted to $117,206.The Flathead Joint Board of Control now faces the challenge of how to pay legal arrears accumulated through mid-August and also any FERC related legal services after the period covered by the last bill on August 1. On a related matter of great concern, legal costs through August cited above came as a surprise because there was serious underreporting of relevant budget information during the first half of the year. According to the Flathead Joint Board of Control’s June budget statement, payments to the law firm from January through June totaled $64,722. But the Flathead Joint Board of Control June budget statement failed to report that an additional $53,946 was directly paid by each of the three districts that constitute the Flathead Joint Board of Control without formal approval in public district board meetings. Thus total payments to the law firm amounted to $118,670 through June. The June budget statement also failed to report that because Flathead Joint Board of Control payments through June still were less than total billed, past due payments in June amounted to $60,727.Because of the serious underreporting of FERC related legal costs and arrears through the first half of the year and because the payments made by the three districts were of questionable legality, fellow commissioner Paul Guenzler and I have asked for an independent audit. 

-Dick Erb, Moiese