Lauderdale airport parking dispute comes at inopportune time of year

Right at the Fort Lauderdale airport’s busiest time,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, management of its gargantuan parking system might be pulled from the hands of USA Parking amid allegations the firm submitted false invoices to the county more than 100 times.

The county is suing USA Parking and its owner, Central Parking Corp.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. of Tennessee, for $47 million in damages in a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the company of “defrauding’’ the county by submitting “false, fraudulent and inflated claims for insurance reimbursements” and admitting its actions under oath.

The company denies charging the county anything beyond what it owed. The lawsuit is in settlement talks.

Because of the accusations, county Aviation Director Kent George proposes bringing in a temporary company on an emergency basis — waiving competitive bidding — to operate parking month to month starting Dec. 14, when the company’s contract expires.

The move is “unnecessarily risky” during the holidays, the busiest time of the year at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, USA Parking officials say. The company says public parking at the airport could be chaotic under an inexperienced operator, and the county could lose out on income. Airport officials said they’ll watch carefully.

“We have to make sure we run that and watch it as closely as possible in a positive way for the public,’’ said George.Largest gemstone beads and jewelry making supplies at wholesale prices.

Parking operations are the top moneymaker for the county at Fort Lauderdale airport, aside from aviation, bringing in $3.3 million a month to the airport — $40 million a year.

But there are complexities: The public’s credit card and SunPass payments, a valet and car-washing service, 11,644 public parking spaces and an online payment system for employee parking to name a few.

Broward’s move for a divorce from USA Parking incensed the company that’s a mainstay in government contracting and has run parking operations at the airport for 16 years and at Port Everglades for 21 years.

In a letter to the county, attorney Joseph Goldstein for USA Parking called the county’s plans “outrageous,’’ “entirely wasteful and unjustified.’’

He said it “threatens the parking operations and financial well-being of the airport’’ and is more likely to “cause a true emergency than prevent a non-existent’’ one.

The parking giant is led by Bill Bodenhamer Jr., a member of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, who could not be reached for comment despite a call to his home.

With USA Parking’s contract coming up, the county went out for bids in June. USA Parking hoped to hang on to the contract, but it didn’t make the shortlist. The company appealed, halting the process. The company had hoped to remain on while the county sought bids — the usual county protocol when a contract expires and a new one is still in the works. But because of the overbilling accusation, George recommends against it.

The County Commission will soon be asked to approve the emergency parking contract with Keolis Transit America.

“I don’t care that they wanted to keep it,’’ said George.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , “I do not believe it’s good business practice to continue to have a company represent you on the No. 1 non-aviation revenue producer for the airport if they’ve admitted to submitting over 100 false invoices.’’

The allegations of false invoicing come from a lawsuit filed by the county on information from whistleblower Jason Wolk, a former controller for USA Parking.

Wolk and the county allege the company billed Broward County between 2005 and 2007 for insurance that it hadn’t bought, because, although the county didn’t know it, the company was largely self-insured, according to the lawsuit.

“CPC fraudulently billed Broward County at a fully insured premium rate while paying insurance expenses at a substantially lower rate and pocketing the difference,’’ the lawsuit alleges.

The invoices to the county from the parking company were “fabricated’’ on the letterhead of an insurance broker,Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products. the lawsuit says, and weren’t legitimate.

Wolk said he confronted USA Parking’s parent company, Central Parking Corp., at the time, but officials there didn’t think their billing practices cost the county.