By: Libi Uremovic, June 6, 2014 | Original Article at Patch.com
Published: June 8, 2014 Updated: 11:09 p.m.
Beaumont’s efforts to build roads on its own, ignoring a regional program its City Council agreed to embrace, appear to have backfired.
And the bill for independence is tens of millions of dollars, a judge has ruled.
City officials aren’t signing any checks just yet. Mayor Brenda Knight said Beaumont had lost “the first round” but will appeal the judge’s ruling that it must pay $43 million plus interest in a dispute over transportation fees.
Further complicating the case, the Western Riverside Council of Governments, which was victorious in its lawsuit against the city, will refer the court’s decision and related trial evidence to the Riverside County grand jury and district attorney for further investigation.
Translation: There’s a long road ahead in this battle.
Orange County Superior Court Judge David Chaffee accused the city of fraud in handing down his ruling.
“The evidence and testimony reveals that city management and staff engaged in a pattern and practice of deception that transcends the typical give-and-take of dispute negotiation,” Chaffee said May 22. “Had this been a typical civil trial containing allegations of fraud, I would have found fraud by clear and convincing evidence against the city.”
Knight said at Tuesday’s council meeting that no matter the ultimate outcome of the case, Beaumont residents will not foot the bill.
“There will be no new taxes on any existing residents and businesses,” she told a crowded chambers. “This is a fee program, to be paid by developers.”
Knight said the appeal will be made because there are 22 boxes of evidence and 18 legal issues that were not analyzed by the court.
“While we would have liked to have won this round, it is just the first round and we are confident that the next round will be won, as Beaumont has built $62 million in TUMF roads,” she said.
City Manager Alan Kapanicas said it always was expected there would be an appeal, no matter who won the case. That process could take up to three years.
WRCOG filed suit against Beaumont in 2009, claiming money the city collected from developers for road projects should have come to the agency.
The court found that Beaumont failed to comply with the Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee Program administered by WRCOG. Referred to as TUMF, the fee is charged to developers in the region to cover the cost of roads and improvements needed as a result of their projects.
TUMF was created as houses were popping up all over the once sparsely populated county. Beaumont, and the rest of the region, joined the program in 2003. Developers would pay money to cities, which were to give the funds to WRCOG. The agency would distribute some of the money back to cities and use the rest toward regional roadways.