Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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Wednesday, January 16, 2002 |
| Paper sues
to open secret tax talks between cities, Fayette
By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette Publishing Inc., parent company of The Citizen Newspapers, has filed a court action seeking to halt mediation talks between Fayette County and its three largest cities pending a hearing to determine whether the mediation can legally be conducted in secret. [Publisher Cal Beverly explains the newspaper's reasons for filing the lawsuit in his column on this page.] The action came this week after visiting Judge Stephen Boswell, who is overseeing the mediation, refused to respond to The Citizen's earlier written request that he explain his reasons for closing the talks. The attorney for the newspapers also have issued requests for any and all documents produced as a result of the mediation, citing the federal Freedom of Information Act. The governments involved have three days to respond to that request, which was delivered Tuesday. Fayette and the cities of Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone are engaged in court-ordered mediation of a long-standing dispute over tax equity. City officials have maintained that their residents are taxed for more services than they receive from the county about $2 million a year. County leaders say there is no tax inequity, that city residents receive more than their fair share of services. Boswell ordered mediation after the cities filed a formal request that he do so. As part of those proceedings, Boswell issued an order Dec. 14 requiring that the mediation be conducted in private, and that the parties not talk about the discussions. Though the order cites no statutory authority allowing the secret meetings, it holds that the decision is "consistent with the general guidelines for all mediations." "In order to provide an environment conducive to resolution, mediations are conducted in private and information provided is confidential as between the parties and the mediator," said Boswell in his mediation order. Publisher Beverly decided to question the legal grounds for the secrecy order, he said, because the parties involved are not private citizens, as in most court-ordered mediations, but governing bodies, and the matters they are discussing involve taxpayers' interests. "For us, the question is simple Can a judge ignore one state law while implementing provisions of another law, this one on mandatory mediation?" Beverly wrote in his column. "Put another way, can judicial procedure and legal custom trump state law? "We believe anytime an elected body talks about taxes, such talk should be open to the taxpayers and subject to their scrutiny. We believe Judge Boswell has made a legal error, one that can be corrected only through court action," Beverly said. The judge's "error," Beverly said, affected all Fayette County taxpayers. The Citizen's objections come as the parties continue to meet secretly. According to sources close to the mediation, the parties hope to reach a conclusion soon.
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