Lawsuit Will Cost Taxpayers, More Or Less

A lawsuit was filed July 10 by The Northwest Arkansas Homebuilders Association and others against the city of Bentonville over its impact fee ordinances. Mayor Terry Coberly Black has until July 30 to file a response. The suit could prove costly to taxpayers, given the fact the municipality will likely need to bring in outside counsel, said Bentonville City Attorney Camille Thompson.

Craig Richardson of Clarion Associates in Chapel Hill, N.C., wrote the impact fee ordinances for Bentonville, so Thompson said she sees him as a near necessity for the proceedings. She said Paul Tischler of Denver, who was hired for $70,000 to do the impact fee study would also be needed as an expert witness.

The city did not yet have firm estimates for the associated travel and lawyer costs.

Tischler has done more than 500 impact fee studies for cities from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage, Alaska, and not one of the subsequent ordinances was successfully challenged, said Thompson.

“It could potentially cost us tens of thousands of dollars to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars if we go to trial,” Thompson said.

The city will probably file a motion for summary judgment rather than a motion to dismiss, Thompson said. If the motion is granted, the case would obviously cost taxpayers less.

“To me it is a pretty clear-cut case,” Thompson said. “The Arkansas Supreme Court addressed these identical issues in the 1993 city of Marion case.” The court ruled in favor of the city of Marion.

The Arkansas General Assembly passed a law last spring that allows cities to impose impact fees with certain guidelines. Bentonville’s impact fee ordinance is strikingly similar to the new guidelines cited in Arkansas law, Thompson said.