Waldo commission supports lawsuit against county

For the second commission meeting in a row, Waldo commissioners discussed filing a lawsuit against the county, but ultimately decided to delay it until this year’s budget process in September.

The potential lawsuit concerns a dispute the city has long had with the county over the use of money the county collects from traffic tickets issued in Waldo.

For the past 15 years, a $12.50 surcharge has been added on the traffic tickets, with that revenue going to Alachua County. The purpose of the surcharge is for a communication system that benefits the entire county, including municipalities.  However, Waldo officials claim the money spent from that fund has been benefitting only Alachua County, and not Waldo.

Waldo is seeking to have the money collected from those surcharges over the past decade, about $570,000, returned to the city.

In July, the city attempted to resolve the issue through mediation, but a failure to reach a deal has led to the next step in the process.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Waldo City Attorney John McPherson advised the commission to handle the budget and the lawsuit at the same time to make sure the city has the money.

The commissioners took McPherson’s advice and delayed the decision but remained dedicated to pursuing it.

“Even if we have to get out and have car washes and bake sales to pay for it, that’s how strongly I feel we should go on with this,” Commissioner Rodney Estes said.

McPherson said there is no need to hurry the process.

“I know everybody’s anxious to get going,” McPherson said. “But I don’t think there’s any rush in filing it.”

City Manager Kim Worley said the city would need to raise the city attorney’s monthly pay from $1,500 to $1,600 to pursue the lawsuit.

Other considerations for the lawsuit include getting other cities involved. McPherson said he will be contacting Alachua and High Springs about joining the lawsuit. Both cities are in a similar situation to Waldo, but don’t have nearly as much to gain. Compared to the approximate $90,000 collected from Waldo tickets last year, the county only collected about $40,000 from Alachua and about $20,000 from High Springs because both cities give out fewer tickets.

McPherson said there are both benefits and drawbacks to adding other cities to the lawsuit.

He said having the help from other city attorneys would be beneficial, but coming to terms with the county would be more complicated, given that more parties are involved.

“One would assume that it would be harder for the county to settle with four or five different governments … rather than just us,” McPherson said.

“Even if nobody joins us, I think we should go ahead. And I think the option will always be there for others to join on with us.”