Column: Lawsuit has hurt everyone in Indian Hill
The Indian Hill Journal recently front-paged an article about how I “won” an almost six-year lawsuit against the Indian Hill Board of Education for imposing a tax increase that the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously declared illegal.
I beg to disagree with the headline. No one “won.” We all lost. In the first place, the article gives the impression that the lawsuit was a one-person crusade. It most definitely was not.
The Committee for Responsible School Spending was formed by a core group of concerned citizens who spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in this effort to support the right of taxpayers to vote for...or against...increases in school taxes, through the levy process.
CRSS was supported by contributions from more than 200 school district residents, which were spent on the costs of litigation, keeping residents informed of the need to file protests with their property tax payments, and many other procedural matters.
Meanwhile, CRSS was represented on a pro bono basis by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law under attorney Maurice Thompson. He persevered through almost six years of seemingly endless litigation at the Cincinnati level, at the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, at the Ohio Supreme Court, and, finally, at the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. This lawsuit was the longest Mr. Thompson has ever adjudicated.
Next, well over $1 million of tax-payer money has been spent. Much of it could have been avoided if the Board of Education had accepted the Supreme Court’s December 2014 decision and immediately started refunding the illegal tax. Instead, the Board engaged new legal counsel (from Cleveland) in an effort to avoid repaying 100 percent of the refunds due taxpayers.
The Board’s response made it necessary to convert the original law-suit into a class action. That change hugely increased legal costs. Then, when the Board finally agreed to settle in late 2015, the cost of administering the refunds added to the expenses paid for with tax-payer money. In another twist of fate, the refund cost increased further because the Hamilton County Auditor erased the computer files on which the refunds were based. The expense of reconstructing the missing records has added yet another layer of cost, plus more months of delay. Finally, in addition to the horrendous expense of this sorry history, there’s been a lamentable breach in community relationships.
The preponderance of comments our CRSS group has received in letters and conversations, have been positive...and much appreciated. But we’ve also received abusive letters excoriating our “selfishness” and demanding that we leave Indian Hill. A red banner on a flagpole in front of the entrance to the Indian Hill high school proclaims “Integrity.” Really?
The one bright light at the end of the tunnel is the assurance by a respected judge that this suit will govern case law for all 611 Ohio school districts for the next 50 years.
Fred Sanborn is a resident of Indian Hill.