Fee goes before judge

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD Vera O'Connor was angry was she opened a letter from the City of Springfield and discovered a bill for having two trash containers.

O'Connor was angry because she lives in a condo and pays for a dumpster at her building. She has no city issued trash cans.

O'Connor told the standing-room audience at a meeting about the lawsuit opposing the trash fee on Wednesday that was the reason she decided to be one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the trash fee.

The move, led by State Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, contends the Finance Control Board (FCB) had no right impose a fee on a city service that is already paid for by tax revenue.

On Nov. 15 the two attorneys representing the plaintiffs, which include Coakley-Rivera will ask a judge to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction on the city to prevent it from collecting the trash fee until its legality has been determined.

Thomas Holloway and Brandon Moss of law firms of Gibson & Pehman, P.C. of Burlington, are the two attorneys who are representing the case. They presented the details of their argument and what might happen to the people who attended the meeting in City Hall.

Holloway said the FCB has the power to impose fees, but not taxes and he believes the trash fee is actually a tax.

Moss explained that a tax raises money for a governmental entity, while a fee pays directly for a service. Because the money raised through the trash fee is going into the general revenue account of the city and because the trash service is already underwritten by the city, the trash fee is a tax, Moss said.

Moss said the effort to stop the trash fee now would save the city money in the creation and postage of the bills. One advantage of having a restraining order in place would be the prevention of collection of fees that would have to be refunded if the courts decide the fee is illegal.

"It would be a logistical nightmare for the city to refund the money," Moss said.

Holloway cautioned that the injunction may not be granted and if that happened, the case will proceed "along a normal course." Neither lawyer could predict when the lawsuit would be settled.

Coakley-Rivera noted there have been many problems with the accuracy of the bills and the Department of Public Works (DPW) staff has been trying to correct them.

City Councilor Domenic Sarno the only other elected official besides Coakley-Rivera at the meeting asked how many people have had problems with the DPW in reaching them to address their concerns about the bills. Dozens of hands shot up around the room.

He said he would send a memo to the DPW about the complaints.

Sarno characterized the trash fee as "penny wise and pound foolish."

Coakley-Rivera said the city's response to unpaid trash fee bills of putting liens on properties would cost the city three to four times the values of the unpaid fees.

"That does not make for happy residents to threaten to take away their homes," she said.

Coakley-Rivera said that rather than a fee to raise revenue, she had suggested the FCB had included in all of his its recent union negotiations a residency clause for all new hires.

"This was an opportunity no mayor in the next 20 years would have had," she said.

A residency requirement would attract and retain new people to the city and help raise revenues, she said.