A bill for a street project that Island County managed for the city of Langley has turned into a source of contention after going unsettled for well over two years.

During a workshop meeting Wednesday, county commissioners agreed to reduce the $60,000 balance, though not by the amount the Langley officials requested. Two of the commissioners had unusually tough words for Langley over its refusal to pay the bill.

Commissioner Janet St. Clair pointed out that the commissioners awarded Langley millions of dollars in grants during the same time period in which city officials were unwilling to reimburse the county. She said if a workable solution can’t be found she might need “further persuasion” to award grants in the future.

“It is not okay for them not to pay their bills because they didn’t have their internal stuff, for lack of a better word, worked out,” she said.

Likewise, Commissioner Jill Johnson likened the city’s actions to someone getting a haircut or buying gas and then refusing to pay. She emphasized that the county agreed to manage the project as a favor for the city. The city’s grants had a deadline that the city wasn’t able to make on its own, and the county agreed to collect the payment afterward, she said.

“The lesson to incorporate into our culture,” Johnson said, “is, yeah, we don’t front other municipalities money for their projects. They have to have it.”

Commissioner Melanie Bacon, however, pointed out that the situation was more complicated, with the cost of the project being higher than Langley anticipated because of added work. She thanked her fellow commissioners, on behalf of Langley, for being willing to cut overhead costs.

Assistant County Engineer Ed Sewester went over the story behind the street project billing disagreement.

In 2019, he explained, the county agreed to manage a federal-grant-funded paving project for Langley at the intersection of Second Street and Anthes Avenue. When the project was completed in November 2020, the county sent the invoice for $380,000 of the costs which weren’t covered by the grant.

Instead of paying, Langley proposed several reductions to the invoice. Sewester said the city, for example, felt it shouldn’t have to pay for required ADA-related changes to the project.

The county disagreed with most of Langley’s proposed cuts, but did concede to an $18,000 reduction. In June 2021, the city paid the county based on the city’s proposed reductions, leaving a balance of $118,000.

City and county staff met and discussed the matter in March 2022. Langley staff explained that the city was having budget challenges. Staff from both the county and city agreed that the overhead rate that was tacked onto the bill should be reduced from the approximate 19% that the county charges outside entities to the 3% rate that is applied for transactions between county departments.

Randi Perry, director of public works for Langley, explained in an interview that the city’s street fund has limited amounts of money so city officials are careful about expenditures. She also pointed out that neither she nor Mayor Scott Chaplin were with the city when most of the decisions were made regarding the project and billing.

In April, the city paid another $60,000 toward the balance. An additional $119 was paid in May.

Sewester said reducing the overhead cost as proposed would cut the bill by $50,000, with a remaining balance of about $9,000.

Johnson, however, said while it made sense to reduce the overhead cost for Langley, she proposed that the city pay the “federal indirect rate,” which she described as the overhead rate the county collects from grants it receives. The rate is about 6%, she said.

“You shouldn’t pay less than what it costs us to run our system,” she said.

The other commissioners agreed.