County agrees to pay builders $1.2 million

Clark County taxpayers are likely to pay $1.2 million in an out-of-court settlement with builders who were overcharged for permits between 2002 and 2007.

County commissioners Tuesday approved the settlement in the class-action lawsuit, which was arranged by the Building Industry Association of Clark County after the county sharply raised building permit fees in 2001.

The county had been illegally charging builders for the cost of enforcing building codes, a judge found this year, in addition to the cost of processing permits.

“Somebody’s got to hold government accountable when you feel like you’re being robbed, and that’s how we felt,” Steve Madsen, a spokesman for the builders’ group, said Tuesday.

For taxpayers, the settlement is another blow, though an expected one, to the county’s troubled general fund.

The fund, which pays for sheriff deputies, courts and other basic county services, is $29 million short of the sum needed to maintain services for the next two years, the county says. Cuts and layoffs are on the way.

“Yeah, that hurts,” Bronson Potter, the county’s top civil lawyer, said Tuesday.

Thousands of people who applied for residential and commercial building and remodeling permits will likely be eligible for small slices of the settlement, if it’s finalized after a Dec. 15 hearing in Kelso.

The builders’ group had initially asked for more than $4 million. Tuesday’s $1.2 million settlement, negotiated between Potter and the builders’ lawyer, includes a lawyers’ fee of about 20 percent and interest.

Madsen said his group supports the settlement because the lawsuit has already prompted the county to shift more of its costs from builders toward taxpayers.

“We certainly have a better relationship with the county than we did six years ago,” Madsen said. “As far as our commitment to cleaning up the process and getting the county to get a better job, we won. We got everything we wanted.”

Community Development Director Marty Snell said the immediate impact of the change would be the layoffs of three code enforcement officers.

Attorney Potter said he wasn’t sure how much staff time the county had devoted to the case.

Unlike private lawyers, he doesn’t bill his hours.

“This case has been pending for six years, so I’ve spent a lot of time on it,” Potter said with a sigh.

After the Dec. 15 hearing, the county will try to notify people who are eligible for refunds. To comment on the settlement before the hearing, contact the Cowlitz County Superior Court clerk at 360-577-3016.

Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 or michael.andersen@columbian.com.