Sewer Didn’t Meet Funding Rules, Audit Finds

An audit by the state controller’s office has found that the Ventura Regional Sanitation District charged the Environmental Protection Agency $1 million for a 1985 sewer project that did not meet federal funding requirements, state officials said Tuesday.

Officials said the audit was recently forwarded to the state Water Resources Control Board for further review. They said the board could recommend to the EPA that the district repay the money to the federal agency.

Edd Fong, spokesman for the state controller’s office, said the audit showed that the sanitation district did not follow EPA guidelines when it built the sewer system in the unincorporated area of Ven-Tu Park, near Thousand Oaks. He said the audit was conducted at the request of the EPA.

Seventy-five percent of the funds for the project came from the EPA’s Clean Water Grant Program, with the remainder coming from the Water Resources Control Board and the city of Thousand Oaks, which services the sewer system, according to state and district officials.

Fong said that for a government agency to receive federal funds to build a sewer system, it must show that it will operate at two-thirds of its design capacity, which is based on a given area’s population.

Fong said that at the time the audit was conducted in late 1989, the Ven-Tu Park system was only operating at 17% of its capacity.

“Apparently, they built it much larger than the regulations or the law allows,” Fong said.

Mike Koziol, audit manager in charge of the district audit, said the EPA’s regulations are designed to keep the agency from paying for a system that promotes growth.

Meanwhile, sanitation district officials are disputing the auditor’s findings, saying they had prior approval from the EPA to build the system.

“We believe we acted appropriately and properly and had approval for the project,” said Ed Bushong, financial officer with the sanitation district.

Bushong said the problem is with the auditor’s interpretation of the system’s operating capacity. He said that if the district had not followed the EPA’s guidelines, it never would have received grant money for the sewer project.

He said the sanitation district received a copy of the audit in October and the next month filed a response with the state contesting the findings. He said the district has not heard from the state since then.

Koziol said that if the Water Resources Control Board concurs with the auditor’s findings, it would recommend to the EPA that the district repay the money.

If that happens, Bushong said, the district plans to appeal the decision to the EPA.

“We believe we are on firm ground and intend to take them on,” Bushong said. “We believed we followed state procedures.”

Bushong said he and other district officials are prepared to meet with EPA officials to discuss the audit if necessary.