Office Depot allegedly overcharged the city of Berkeley by more than a quarter million dollars for office supplies and recycled paper, city officials revealed Tuesday.

In a three-year, $1.65 million dollar contract, the company reportedly overcharged the city by $262,000, according to Robert Hicks, Berkeley's finance director.

The city's finance department first began looking into potential overcharges in October, when media outlets reported Office Depot was facing similar allegations in other states.

At around the same time, Diane Griffin, president of Radston's Office Plus in the city of Hercules, informed the Berkeley City Council that the city's purchase reports revealed overcharges of about $8,000 per month.

"It just dawned on me, I got to take another look at Berkeley, at their purchasing," Griffin said. "I was wondering how Berkeley got an exceptionally good deal."

Following a confirmation of allegations by city officials during a budget workshop Tuesday, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the city needs to go after the money.

"Now we can demand restitution," Worthington said. "The taxpayers in Berkeley want to know they're getting their money's worth, so it's very important the city follow up on this."

Jason Shockley, Office Depot's senior manager of public relations, said in an e-mail that the company is aware of the allegations and is planning to work with the city.

"We are aware of these allegations and Office Depot intends to fully cooperate with any audit conducted by the City of Berkeley, as we do with all government and regulatory agencies," he said in the e-mail.

According to Hicks, the finance department had already submitted its overcharge findings to Office Depot on Feb. 20.

Hicks said he hopes the company will refund the money so the city will not have to take further action to seek compensation.

"We're hoping Office Depot will take a look at the analysis ... and will send us a refund without legal action," he said.

Hicks said the city should have received a discount rate of 55 percent on its office product purchases. Instead, according to Griffin, it was given a 40 percent discount rate, which led to the overcharge.

According to Griffin, overcharge allegations against the company are not unique to Berkeley. She said attorneys general in Missouri and Florida are investigating company overcharges in government contracts.

Worthington said e-mails from other states­-including a council member in Florida who also pushed her city staff to investigate similar alleged overcharges-praised Berkeley for seriously looking into the issue.

"I see it as a giant victory that the city of Berkeley took the time to go through all these tedious documents, that they are standing up to Office Depot," he said.

Tags: OFFICE DEPOT