Waldo dispute with county could be headed for lawsuit

For the past 15 years, Alachua County has collected a $12.50 surcharge, added to every traffic ticket handed out in Waldo.

For Waldo, a city known for regularly pulling over speeders, those $12.50 charges have added up to about $90,000 annually. That money is supposed to be used to improve communication in departments throughout the county.

However, Waldo is concerned that the county is getting all of the benefit, and the city is getting squeezed out.

Waldo City Manager Kim Worley met with county officials July 1 for mediation talks to resolve the issue. She said the city was looking to reach an agreement, but the county was uncooperative.

“I’m frustrated,” Worley said. “They should have saved us the time and money and just skipped mediation, if they weren’t going to come to an agreement.”

On Tuesday, the Waldo City Commission discussed the next move, which could be filing a lawsuit against the county. Commissioners did not vote to file a lawsuit, yet, but they did give direction to the city attorney to look into the details for filing one and to bring it back to the commission at the next meeting.

Waldo wants to the use the money collected from those $12.50 surcharges on its own department.

Waldo Police Chief Mike Szabo said the state law allows the city to spend money collected from those charges on a variety of department needs.

The city has not yet decided how far back it would ask for money the county has collected from the charges – whether the approximate $90,000 collected this year, or the more the $1 million collected throughout the fund’s history.

Waldo is also reaching out to other cities to join the lawsuit. Gainesville, Alachua, High Springs and the University of Florida Police Department also send the $12.50 surcharge to the county.

Waldo has taken the lead on the issue, and from a financial standpoint, it has much to gain. Szabo said Alachua sends about $40,000 and High Springs sends about $20,000, compared to the annual $90,000 Waldo sends to the county.

The city attorney told the commission that if the mediation is any indication, he thinks the city would fare well in a lawsuit.

“If that mediator had been a judge, he would have ruled in our favor,” the city attorney said.

He also said that this specific lawsuit wouldn’t be of great cost to the city.

Although commissioners decided not to vote for the lawsuit yet, they did voice support for it.

A second dispute with the county

Waldo’s issues with the county aren’t limited to ticket surcharges. The city disagrees with the county’s requirement that the city call in to the county every time a Waldo police officer conducts a traffic stop.

Szabo said it’s done in the name of safety, to provide a location for officers that could be at risk, but he doesn’t think it’s necessary, given that every car has a laptop and that Waldo covers significantly less ground than does a county patrol car.

“The sheriff has said it’s about safety, but it’s not. It’s about money,” Szabo said.

The county charges the city $6.05 for every call it makes to the county. Worley said the city budgeted for these calls to add up to about $22,000 to $30,000 throughout the year, based on the city using its old procedure of calling in only when it deemed necessary, specifically at night or in isolated or dangerous areas.

Szabo said Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell instructed his department to use the county’s procedure, which is to call in every traffic stop or be cut off from the system altogether.

The city complied, and the $6.05 charges have added up to triple the expected amount.

Worley wrote a letter detailing the city’s complaint to Alachua County Commission Chair Cynthia Chestnut on July 2 with the goal of reducing the charges to a flat fee of $30,000. She said the county has not yet accepted the offer.

Money potentially won from the lawsuit over the ticket surcharges could not be used to pay for the call-in charges because they are separate funds, Worley said.