The Ile Camera
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Bridge lawsuit costs near $450,000 By Lena Khzouz
, The Ile Camera
PUBLISHED: February 2, 2007
To date, the toll bridge lawsuit has cost $448,191 in attorney, engineering and consulting fees.
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Of that amount, almost $299,831 is for legal fees from Butzel Long.
"That's it, 100 percent," Supervisor Kurt Kobiljak said, adding that there are no outstanding fees for anyone in relation to the matter.
The costs were posted during the last Board of Trustees meeting in response to many questions from residents in recent months about the costs of the lawsuit.
Using the rights of eminent domain, Grosse Ile Township tried to take over the toll bridge at the north end of the island from the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge Co., owned by Paul Smoke.
The toll bridge is one of two spans connecting the island to the mainland. The second bridge, which will undergo major repairs this year, is free access and is owned by Wayne County. It is at the island's south end.
The matter of the township attempting to take over the toll bridge through eminent domain has gone through the court system for about three years, and the parties are awaiting a decision from the Michigan Supreme Court.
The source of the payments for the acquisition of the bridge and related expenses was set up by the last township board, Kobiljak said.
The former board agreed to go for $10 million worth of bonds to pay for the acquisition costs of the bridge, including paying the owner fair market value for it.
Related costs that were accounted for include consulting, attorney fees for litigation and improvements to the bridge.
The $10 million in bonds were to be paid back by the revenue from the tolls drivers pay to get on and off the bridge.
However, right now, the township is not getting any of that because the bridge is still owned by the Grosse Ile Bridge Co.
The $448,000 in question, therefore, has been "borrowed" from the township's general fund, Kobiljak said.
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the township, revenue from the bridge would be paid back to the general fund, he said.
On the other hand, if the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge Co. maintains ownership of the bridge, Kobiljak said the township board would have to look into its options regarding the payment.
The trustees would determine whether or not the general fund should just absorb the cost or if they want to investigate another funding mechanism that could be used to pay it back, he said.
Kobiljak said the township leaders made the effort to reveal the costs during a Jan. 22 board meeting because there has been such speculation in the community that these legal fees have been so great.
Here is the Grosse Ile Bridge Co.'s opinion on the matter:
Greg Karmazin, spokesman for the company, characterized that cost as "very substantial."
"The Grosse Ile Bridge Co. looks forward to the day when the township board exclusively focuses their energy and taxpayers' money on planning for the closure of the county bridge and other priorities in the community that benefit island residents and businesses," Karmazin said.
"For the good of all islanders, the township board should end their completely unnecessary, highly counterproductive and very costly eminent-domain lawsuit against the bridge company."
Here is Kobiljak's take on the issue:
"Since the initiation of the township's condemnation of the toll bridge, one of the more speculated issues surrounding the litigation focused on the township's legal fees.
I must admit that since becoming actively involved in township government some 16 years ago, I have never seen such an expanse of notions and exaggerations surrounding the legal fees involved in this litigation.
Over this period, even though I and the township board continually attempted to calm the concern in the community, the legal fees and costs took on gigantic proportions due to false speculations.
During a Christmas function I heard that our legal bill regarding this litigation was $850,000, while as late as last Monday, I received a correspondence where a resident indicated that he had heard at a New Year's Eve function that the township's legal fees were at $1.6 million.
Even though it is clear that there are residents who are either for, or against, the condemnation action, the financials surrounding the litigation were firmly put to rest at our Jan. 22 board meeting.
Over the last 18 months there has been a constant concern raised by certain residents regarding what the total amount of legal fees had been incurred by the township.
In a cooperative arrangement with the township's legal firm, Butzel Long, instead of billing the township for the appellate work on the matter on a monthly basis (court of appeals and Supreme Court), it was agreed that a mutual cost for these services would be arranged sometime after the township's final filing with the Michigan Supreme Court in early 2007.
To that end, the township reviewed the total potential Butzel Long legal fees and costs from Nov. 7, 2005, to the present at one time.
After a great deal of negotiations and debate, and with a fee cost savings of more than $15,000, it was agreed that the township's final legal bill with Butzel Long was $54,529.07.
At our most recent township board meeting, the board approved this final payment to Butzel Long.
Butzel Long, in turn, followed up this action by indicating in a letter sent to my office that upon payment of attorney fees and costs in the amount of $54,529.07 that there will not be any balance owed to Butzel Long by the township relating to the condemnation matter and that all attorney fees and costs related to this matter have been paid in full.
With this final payment, the total legal fees and costs incurred by the township in relation to the condemnation case is $299,830.71.
You will find no board member who is pleased in paying legal fees; however, in light of the fact that this was an anticipated $10 million revenue bonded project, the legal fees incurred in bringing this matter forward is roughly 3 percent of the total project.
Additionally, by establishing a procedure as to how the township board proposed to pay Butzel Long, it created a $15,000 costs savings in the township's interest.
With legal fees totaling $299,830.71, and the recent order from the Supreme Court acknowledging the township's claim of necessity over the toll bridge, the longstanding speculation regarding legal fees has hopefully been resolved by the township final payment of fees at its recent meeting.
If, however, there are still outstanding questions by any resident, please feel free to contact my office at 1-734-676-4422, ext. 215, so that any outstanding issues can be factually discussed in detail."
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