By Adam Aasen
The Carmel Redevelopment Commission announced at their monthly meeting that they have resolved an issue involving an unpaid invoice sent to Keystone Construction.
Confusion arose over the fact that Keystone owed the CRC about $172,000 because of a TIF guarantee involving Sophia Square but at the same time the CRC owed more than $300,000 to Keystone to help pay for the parking garage’s maintenance.
It was suggested by several city officials that the CRC could just net out the difference between the two invoices and cut a check, but the confusion led to months of unpaid invoices.
Clerk-Treasurer Diana Cordray explained that Keystone guaranteed up to $200,000 in TIF funds for the Sophia Square project. From the development’s area, only $27,246.68 in TIF money was remitted to the CRC, so Keystone promised to make up the difference. Cordray sent invoices in December, January and February but heard no response. This prompted the issue to take up most of the conversation at the Feb. 28 CRC finance committee meeting.
Causing some confusion is the fact that the CRC owes Keystone about $302,000 because under a parking management agreement for the Sofia Square building, the city has agreed to reimburse Keystone for costs associated with managing and maintaining the garage. The garage is co-owned by both the city and Keystone.
CRC financial consultant Mike Lee told the committee at their March 19 meeting that communication has been cleared up and they expect payment from Keystone in the next week. The CRC hasn’t paid for parking garage management yet.
Lee told the Current that netting out the difference between the bills wouldn’t have been the proper accounting practice.
“We have been working with the CRC to resolve these two balances,” said Chris Carriere, director of finance at Keystone. “We have processed a payment to the CRC for the full $172,753, and it is our understanding that the CRC intends to pay their balance due to Keystone shortly.”
