Hansen, MLIRD staff clash over refund notices

MOSES LAKE - Hundreds of notices were recently mailed to people who may be eligible for a land assessment refund from the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District. However, actual refunds are not currently being given to those individuals since district officials say the notices did not originate from the MLIRD office.

An estimated 400 notices were recently sent to individuals notifying them that they were wrongfully assessed MLIRD taxes, according to MLIRD board chair Mick Hansen on Monday.

"The board approved sending out notices to people after we found out that we actually had some information from the county," said Hansen. "So I sent out mailings to let people know that they were charged and weren't in the district."

Hansen said the notices included a copy of a MLIRD resolution regarding assessment refunds and tax information the district received from the county.

But MLIRD officials said they will not issue refunds at this point since the notices informing people of potential refunds were not officially sent by the district. MLIRD general manager Curt Carpenter commented on the issue in a statement to ratepayers.

"Yesterday, certain documents were presented in the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District's office that were not generated from this office," read Carpenter's letter, which can be heard on an MLIRD phone recording. "There will be no action taken on requests for assessment refunds at this point in time."

According to Carpenter's statement, MLIRD staff will only be able to accept assessment documents from ratepayers and will not be able to discuss any portion of the recent notices that were sent out.

Hansen said he sent the notices because he wanted to make sure people who were wrongfully assessed knew that they had a refund coming.

"They were sent out by myself because of the fact that we made the decision to do it," he said. "And I had to make sure it got done."

Hansen said he will be asking to be reimbursed, since he purchased the envelopes and stamps, as well as covered the cost of printing the notices.

Hansen said it took four people just over two days to prepare and send out the notices.

Board director Ron Covey said he expects that the MLIRD attorney will weigh in on the issue before too long.

"I will let our attorney address that, because there is definitely some illegalities in the way it was handled," said Covey.

Covey said the assessment mailings could come up during the next MLIRD board meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.