Saturday, October 18, 2008

Granite Construction under fire for overbilling wildfire cleanup

October 18, 2008
San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre sued contractors yesterday that the city hired to clear fire-ravaged homesites in Rancho Bernardo, alleging they falsified records, knowingly overcharged and owe the city more than $2 million.

“The disaster of last year's wildfires has been compounded by a scam perpetrated upon the citizens of San Diego,” Aguirre said. “The overcharges come at a time when the city is struggling with a budget deficit and slashed services. We can't afford these rip-offs.”

Aguirre's office opened an investigation and Mayor Jerry Sanders ordered an audit of the debris removal program in August, after a report in The San Diego Union-Tribune raised questions about the work of A.J. Diani Construction Co. of Santa Maria and Granite Construction Co. of Watsonville.

In particular, Christensen said, city attorney investigators focused on the $32 per foot that Granite charged to install fiber rolls, which control erosion.

He said they determined fiber rolls cost 90 cents per foot at a warehouse and that $5.50 per foot, which Diani charged, was a reasonable price to cover manpower and prevailing wages.

When investigators told erosion experts about Granite's price of $32 per foot, Christensen said, “their reactions ranged from 'that's outrageous' to 'that's criminal.' ”

In its contract bid, Granite estimated spending $5,120 on fiber rolls for 160 properties. It ended up billing the city $445,600 for fiber rolls to cover 44 lots.

See the whole article at Sign On San Diego - Link

1 comment:

  1. Granite is a good company in general. A few greedy CEO's put their heads together to pull this outrageous stunt, those guys deserve to lose their jobs, and maybe spend a few years in jail to stop giving their company a bad name. What a shame

    ReplyDelete

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