Camp Verde Town Council approved a sales tax increase last January that was expected to generate about $400,000 in additional revenue. Ironically, due to the law of unintended consequences, the action is likely to cost the town about $60,000.
That’s because the decision not only prompted a recall election, with an estimated price tag of $30,000, but a related lawsuit by recall proponent Cheryl Wischmeyer. After winning the case in November, her lawyer asked a judge to order the town to pay his fees of about $42,500.
Instead, in a special session Dec. 16, the Town Council approved a settlement offer that reduced the amount to $29,500.
The money will come from the town’s contingency fund.
According to minutes from the special session, “Jones-Murdock stated it is always the same thing — we try to save our citizens money and it ends up costing more. All the money is coming out of the same pockets and the citizens are the ones paying it.”
The town will also have to pay its attorneys for their work on the lawsuit.
The settlement offer will be submitted to the court for approval, which, if granted, will end the lawsuit, the town’s attorneys told council during the special session.
The events leading up to the lawsuit began after council approval of the 0.65 percent sales tax increase.
Wischmeyer and her political committee, Camp Verde for Good Government, sought to force a recall election for council members who had voted for the increase.
The group began a petition drive targeting Vice Mayor Bruce George, and councilwomen Robin Whatley and Jessie Jones-Murdock.
Mayor Charlie German also voted for the increase, but was not included in the recall effort because more signatures are needed to remove a mayor than other council members.
The petitions to recall Whatley and Jones-Murdock failed because they didn’t contain enough valid signatures, leaving George as the only one to face the voters.
Later, it was discovered that the petitions, provided by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, had not been updated to reflect changes in state election law.
As a result, Town Council voted to cancel the recall election, which prompted Weischmeyer and Camp Verde for Good Government to file the lawsuit in September.
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge David Mackey on Nov. 5 found that the Town Council didn’t have the authority to cancel the election. He ordered that it be held March 8.
George subsequently resigned from office, saying he didn’t want taxpayers on the hook for the cost of the election. However, the judge ruled the resignation came too late and ordered that the election be held, prompting George to rescind his resignation.
Weischmeyer’s attorney, Alexander Kolodin, of Kolodin Law Group, in Phoenix, on Dec. 4 asked the court to approve $42,528 for attorney fees, support staff time and other costs.
The hourly rate for attorneys who worked on the case is $300; support staff time is billed at $90 per hour.
According to the 13-page document filed by Kolodin, Weischmeyer “conducted an extensive search for attorneys” and “relatively few attorneys in Arizona are knowledgeable about special actions and are willing to take them on.”
The document presents Kolodin’s qualifications and provides an itemized accounting of services, beginning with the initial phone consultation on Aug. 24.
