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Latest Cincinnati/Hamilton County Dispute Involves MSD Billing

Sarah Ramsey
/
WVXU

The latest battle between Cincinnati and Hamilton County concerning the Metropolitan Sewer District is over billing.  

MSD owes the Greater Cincinnati Water Works more than $2 million for billing services and it has not made a payment since June.  

The issue was discussed Monday during a city council committee meeting.  Council Member Kevin Flynn said the money needs to be collected.

“We need to be bringing them back into court,” Flynn said.  “They keep talking about bringing the city back into court.  We need to be bringing them back into court, and asking for interest on that money because it hurts our bottom line.”

In a statement, MSD said Hamilton County administration must provide written approval to pay for billing services.  It did that for the first and second quarters, but not, so far, for the remaining quarters.  

Hamilton County Director of Utility Oversight Dave Meyer said the county is waiting on MSD to provide a reconciliation for the city's fiscal year, which ended on June 30.  

Meyer said in the past, the county has always received a credit when that reconciliation report is issued and is holding current payments until it is received.  

MSD provided a reconciliation report to the county for calendar year 2014 on Jan. 22, 2015.  But Meyer wants a report for the city’s fiscal year (Jul. 1, 2014 thru Jun. 30, 2015).

The city/county relationship with MSD is contentious.  Last week two of the three county commissioners wrote a letter to Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley asking the city to immediately end a 1968 agreement that setup the sewer district.  It is set to expire in 2018.
 

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.