How much? Brown County wants another $250,000 to pay costs of sales-tax lawsuit

GREEN BAY - The cost of defending Brown County against a taxpayers group's court challenge has exceeded six figures, and is expected to rise by another quarter-million dollars in the near future.

Brown County spent almost $110,000 in January and February to pay a law firm to fight a challenge to the legality of an 0.5 percent sales tax. Corporation Counsel David Hemery says another $250,000 is needed to cover current and expected costs to defend an attempt by the Brown County Taxpayers Association to end the tax.

The news angered supervisors as they learned of the request late this past week. The chairman of the County Board accused the association of hypocrisy, saying the group has been running up taxpayers' costs while claiming it wants to reduce them.

"BCTA is the reason we've run up this bill," Chairman Patrick Moynihan, a former BCTA member, said Friday. "Their actions are so contrary to their mission, I'm at the point where I'd be happy to hand deliver them the bill for our legal fees."

Supervisors could be asked later this month to OK a $250,000 transfer from the county's general fund. The county's Administation Committee on Thursday reluctantly recommended approving Hemery's request.

Hemery said the county spent more than $41,000 in legal costs in January, when the group asked a judge to delare the tax "void and unenforceable." February's legal costs topped $68,000, Hemery said.

RELATED: In legal case, group asks judge to end Brown County's new 0.5% sales tax

The $41,000 expense exceeded the county's budget for outside counsel for the entire year by $8,300. Added to February's bill, the account is about $76,000 in the red.

The taxpayers group wants a court to end the tax, claiming it's illegal because it does not directly reduce property taxes. They claim the sales tax could put $18 million to $22 million back in property-owners' pockets.

BCTA also disputes the county's claim that roughly 30 percent of the tax would be paid by residents of other counties, insisting the figure is roughly one-third of that.

The 0.5 percent tax amounts to 50 cents on a $100 purchase. Sixty-six of Wisconsin's 72 counties collect a local sales tax.

Brown County leaders say that without the sales tax plan that Executive Troy Streckenbach proposed last May, they would have to borrow money for buildings and roads — as many municipalities do — driving up property taxes. Twenty-three of the 26 county supervisors voted last year to support the sales-tax plan, which also received significant support from local business leaders.

RELATED: With OK from County Board, sales tax proposal clears final hurdle

BCTA's attorneys in March filed a new claim that asks the county to eliminate the tax. The county has 120 days to respond. If it rejects the claim, the BCTA is expected to sue.

Sales taxes would provide $20 million for mental-health services and a 124-bed expansion to the county jail, improvements to the Brown County Central Library and their other branches, a new building for the county medical examiner's office, and other projects. Those would pair with a proposed $93 million exhibition center that would be funded by tax on hotel guests, and would replace the 60-year-old Veterans' Memorial Arena in Ashwaubenon.

BCTA's case was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The conservative-leaning Milwaukee-based nonprofit supports limited government and education reform.

READ: Judge's decision in Brown County sales tax lawsuit

A circuit judge earlier this year tossed out a previous attempt by WILL and the taxpayers group to block the tax, saying the groups had filed a lawsuit without filing a proper claim. But Judge William Atkinson also ruled that the groups could re-file the claim, which they did.