ADAMS: What will this really cost us?

Coeur d’Alene Councilman Steve Adams personally appeared at the judicial confirmation hearing to oppose approval of the $36.3 million dollar bond to fund the federal mandate to upgrade the city sewage plant. Adams has demanded a city election and threatened suit to block the bond.

The applied for bond, to bear an estimated two percent interest, would be paid over a long period of time by sewage service fees, not property taxes.

Let’s do the math on what Adams will cost the city’s taxpayers.

$75,000 — Special City Election.

$50,000 or more in attorney’s fees and expert witnesses to defend against Adams’ lawsuit.

$37,500 per day fine by EPA if the city has not obtained funding for the bond this summer and therefor violated the agreed to schedule for work commencement. The fine accumulates at about $1 million per month.

If Adams sues or intervenes in the judicial confirmation case, the legal controversy would scare off any bank from funding this bond. If Adams appealed, the final Supreme Court decision would be at least two years away.

Adams and his attorney run the risk of personal liability for attorneys’ fees and damages for delay caused by filing a frivolous, groundless lawsuit. Any sanction, however large, would never cover the costs to Coeur d’Alene and its taxpayers.

If Adams persists, he will cost the taxpayers far more money than anyone ever elected in Idaho to a city, county or state office.

SCOTT W. REED

Coeur d’Alene