How the City of Toronto (Illegally?) Does Their Job

The Toronto Sun
I asked Crognale yesterday if Kawaguchi will get interest on the $5,106.54 the city has had in its possession for nearly a year. "No he's not ... it is not our policy to tack on interest," he said. (note: it's my policy to not pay twice the face amount of a parking ticket if I'm eight days late, but I digress...)
Asked how he found the new overbilled amount, Crognale said upon reviewing the invoice and the file, he noted the contractor was overpaid by nearly $5,000. (I'm sure this was just an oversight, and that it has never happened any other time.)
He explained that the contractor's unit cost was supposed to include the mark-up and the "payroll burden" for time and materials typically included in such a job -- but was added on instead.
"There were a number of people involved on the project from the technical staff that originally did the estimate which was improper, to inspection staff to supervisory staff that approved the payments eventually," he said. "There were a number of people and they overlooked errors along the way." (Which is city-code for we try our damnedest to rip off our residents and visitors every chance we get and absolutely hate it when we get caught.)