Company says Town of Zionsville hasn't paid for more than $500k worth of work

WRTV's Rachael Wilkerson explains the reason behind Zionsville's payment issues.

Town of Zionsville plagued with payment issues

ZIONSVILLE — "Please pay. We need our money," said Abdual Fyzalon.

On Thursday, July 14, Owner of City Wide Paving Inc. Abdual Fyzalon says his company hasn't been paid for their completed work at a Zionsville golf path.

"We started the job in November of 2021. Here we are in July of 2022. The job was completed on June 6 of 2022," Fyzalon said. "The total contract price was almost $570,000. There is a reason why we are not getting paid and it's always a clerical issue. It's never an issue with the work. The work has been accepted. The golf course is open."

On Friday, July 15, Amanda Vela, public information officer for the town, said the claim was approved at a park board meeting on July 13 and the check was issued the following day.

District 5 Town Councilor Josh Garrett says the town uses an out-of-state payment system called OpenGov.

Garrett said right now, town officials aren't able to access accurate account funds.

"In the day-to-day, we don't know where are we on the budget. Are we over? Are we under budget? That is the piece that is missing," Garrett said. "Now the town isn't gonna run out of money. We are able to pay bills, but does certainly hurt for strategic planning."

He said it's impacting payments for vendors and contractors because those claims have to be approved by the council.

"There are many, many vendors that are unfortunately impacted by this and some are small businesses," Garrett said. "Some are local to Zionsville. We have the cash. We want to pay them. We just don't have the system that allows us to get them paid."

Garrett said this isn't the first time this has happened due to software issues.

"I feel bad for them and all of those vendors waiting on those checks," Garrett said. "They shouldn't be made to suffer due to a poorly designed system that the town of Zionsville finds themselves having."

The situation is unacceptable for Fyzalon.

"I have deep concerns about what's going on in Zionsville," Fyzalon said. "We do a lot of work in getting paid from a public-funded project. These are taxpayers' money. Please pay your bills. I am speaking on behalf of us contractors. We can not afford to carry a city such as Zionsville on our backs while you guys are reaping the benefits of our labor."

"Claims were presented to Town Council at the June 21 meeting. Those claims were approved and have been paid. Due to a software issue, claims were not presented to Council at the July 5 meeting. Finance staff alerted the vendor of the issue and subsequently, the software was updated, the issue was resolved and claims were presented to the Parks Board on July 13. These have been approved and been paid. Unfortunately, Town Council cancelled their July 18 meeting. Had council not cancelled their July 18 meeting, claims would have been presented for their consideration and vendors would have been paid on July 19. We are prepared to present claims at the Council’s next meeting.

Town of Zionsville

WRTV received a copy of the claim report.

There are nearly one thousand people paid out, including employees.

WRTV has reached out to "OpenGov" for comment.