Towns Find It Hard To Figure Legal Fees

Last year, a debate over how much a four-acre parcel of wooded land is worth, cost the town of Bridgewater nearly $40,000.

The owners of the property, James and Mary Jane Fox have appealed the listers’ decision for 15 years, forcing it in and out of the state legal system. The appeals had been mostly quiet for three years, but when it came time for a recent townwide reappraisal, the Foxes once again disputed the value of their property that sits at the intersection of Latham Road and Perkins Road in Bridgewater.

In their appeal, the Foxes argued their property is a wetland and that no one could possibly build a home on it. It should be worth $15,000, they said, based on two engineering studies that found it difficult to obtain an adequate septic system.

The listers, however, said the land is buildable — the same engineer that had hesitations about the septic system, also said a two-bedroom residence could suffice on the property. The listers appraised the property for $63,300 in 2012.

The dispute was finally cleared up in January — when the Superior Court decided the property was worth a number in the middle of the two estimates: $30,000 (which was equalized to $29,400).

The town spent $36,500 on legal fees, fighting the case. Bridgewater only budgeted $5,000 for legal fees last year. The case could have easily been cleared up if the landowner agreed to pay $1,152.90 in taxes without appealing, or if the listers lowered the appraised value.

But neither seemed willing to budge.

“We’re sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Selectboard chair Nope Martin said. “If we cave in to these people, then there’s nothing to stop every homeowner from doing it.”

Predicting legal costs is a shot in the dark for all towns. The year prior, Bridgewater spent $2,421.39 on legal fees. Reading spent $55 of its $500 budget last year, Pomfret spent $1,776.05, Woodstock $4,692 of its $6,000 budget and Barnard $4,612. The Vermont Standard requested the figures last Thursday from nine local towns, as part of Sunshine Week, a national initiative that encourages the public’s right to know. Killington said compiling the figures would take some time, past the Standard’s Wednesday morning deadline. This year, Barnard budgeted $10,000 for legal expenses. “That’s kind of a gamble because on one suit, you’d use $10,000 before you even got to court,” Barnard Selectboard chair Tom Morse said.

Legal fees in Barnard have been almost non-existent the past two years — one expense of $1,297 involved surveying an old class 4 road after the existence of the road was challenged by a local resident, according to Morse. Other years, however, the town has spent considerable money.

“There’s no accurate way to judge how often and to what extent you might be involved in legally,” Morse said.

The most costly legal expense to Pomfret in 2013 was an $805 Vermont Standard public records request for six months of email exchanges between Selectboard members that resulted in three binders full of documents. Then-Town Agent Michael Reese, now a Selectboard member, said he spent about four-and-a-half hours sorting through the emails.

The town also used legal funds when a landowner requested the town repair a private bridge based on a 1943 deed. The dispute was settled after the town agreed to pay the owners $9,765 to make necessary repairs to the bridge. The legal fees cost about $1,000 over two years.

Selectboard member Reese called the budget process “a challenge” due to the unforeseen circumstances.

The historic Village of Woodstock sometimes sees zoning appeals from people who find it difficult to comply with the Design Review Board. Over the past two years, the town and village spent about $3,000 on zoning legal expenses. One appeal, over the past two years, concerned a homeowner who renovated a house and then didn’t put the shutters back on. The planning and zoning officer wrote letters asking the owner to comply with the permit. The case is currently in court.

The village also used legal services to deal with Vermont Flannel Company, a local company that regularly hangs or posts nonconforming signs in the windows of its store.

Sometimes towns spend money on attorneys that arise from mistakes, questions or advice about Vermont law.

Woodstock Town Manager Phil Swanson hired an attorney to review last year’s Town Report, where he explained the details of a snow dump to voters — Woodstock’s ongoing project to find an environmentally friendly place for extra snow. Under Vermont law, persuasive language couldn’t be used in the report prior to a vote.

“When we go over all legal expenses, we hope some other line items are under-spent,” he said.

Hartland’s legal expenses have dealt with a landowner, on Ayers Lane, who wanted the town to discontinue a road, and a junkyard that a landowner refused to clean despite the town’s persistence.

The town put $7,200 in the budget last year for legal fees, but it spent about $12,000.

Town Manager Bob Stacey said estimating such expenses are “impossible.”

“You have no idea what’s going to happen,” he said.

Reading only spent $50 on one legal expense. Selectboard chair Bob Allen said the town rarely has disagreements that needed an attorney. If the town does, a local resident donates their services to the town.

“We haven’t had any lawsuits or…issues that required a tremendous amount of his time,” Allen said. * The Fox case wasn’t the first time such a case has happened in Bridgewater. Around 15 years ago, a wealthy couple disagreed that their home on Stonegate Mountain was worth $6 million. They argued it was worth about $2 million.

The town fought that case, too.

“You can’t treat one person differently from another just because they’re trying to bully you,” Lister Thomas Standish said. “If that becomes the standard, there will be a flood of appeals.”

The town’s plan of advocating for transparency and sticking to its guns may be working.

Bridgewater has rarely hired an attorney to do appeals, in the past 15 years that Standish and Victoria Young have been listers.

In a normal year the listers have 4-6 people grieve, but sometimes they don’t have any.

“When you start into an appeal you have no idea what’s going to transpire,” Young said. “Once you start, you’re in it.”

Appeal after appeal has been withdrawn, according to Standish.

Still, there is no way for Selectboards to predict what lies ahead.

“It’s a little frustrating, but it comes with the job,” Martin said. “You can’t plan for it, you just have to react and move forward.