A lawsuit over a scheme imposed in Teton County, Wyoming, to charge landowners massive fees for permission to build homes on their properties has been clouded – now that the county has had a change of heart and has promised to refund one couple the $24,000 plus they paid.
Officials in Teton County say they “miscalculated” the fee, which was $24,325 for Trey and Shelby Scharp, who paid the fee, then sued alleging the county was violating their property rights.
A report at Cowboy State Daily said the county also agreed to pay interest on the payment, and to pay the lawyers for the couple $25,000.
The legal counsel called the county’s action “convenient.”
The case had been asking the court to strike down the county’s fee structure, an agenda now left with a murky legal status.
Generally, lawsuit plaintiffs, if they don’t have a verified “injury,” cannot sue to overturn a fee scheme.
The filing in federal court charged the fee system actually helped pay for price-controlled homes in the resort county, and that violated the 5th Amendment’s requirement that private property cannot be taken for public use without just compensation.
The report explained the Scharps are getting $29,909, their original payment plus interest, and another $25,000 is going to their legal counsel at Pacific Legal Foundation.
The report noted the Scharps found the result unsatisfyling as they were seeking the destruction of that fee process.
Shelby told the publication, “When we filed in May, it was not about the money. It was about the constitutionality of the fees. And we had every intention to take this case as far as it need to go to prove that.”
PLF lawyer Austin Waisanen said, “This was just a way for them to settle rather than what I think would have been a proper application of their housing mitigation fees.”
He confirmed the lawsuit now essentially has been “mooted.”
The county said the change came about as it failed to calculate a deduction that should have been allowed because of a historic cabin on their property.
County officials said the fee was calculated wrongly, but the basics of the system are valid.
