Verizon seeks $2 million from SnoCo cities
By JEREMIAH O’HAGAN Staff Reporter
Verizon Northwest is asking at least 10 local cities for money.
Stanwood is on the list.
Crystil Robinson, the city’s finance director, said she received a letter from Verizon’s attorneys in January.
The letter stated that between January 2005 and June 2008, Verizon overpaid taxes to the city. The overages, the letter explained, were from taxes charged on the sales of digital subscriber lines (DSL), which courts have ruled can’t be included for utility taxes.
What the letter didn’t explain, Robinson said, is how Verizon and its attorneys determined the amount cities owed.
“I wondered, too,” Robinson said, “because it’s a round number.”
$59,500.
“We’re one of the smaller fish in the bowl, but it’s still a lot of money for us,” Robinson said.
Everett is being asked to scramble up $769,618 – the largest amount of any city.
The demands come at a horrid time, when many cities are still reeling from trying to balance their projected 2010 budgets. Most cities, Stanwood included, dipped into reserves to do so.
“We haven’t responded to the letter, yet,” Robinson said. “We’re waiting to see how other cities are going to handle it.”
Staff Reporter Jeremiah
O’Hagan: 629-8066 ext.
125 or ohagan@scnews.
com.
