The developer of the Quail Creek community in Sahuarita is asking the county to pay back $10.8 million in sewer connection fees it says the county illegally collected before issuing building permits.
Lawyers Title of Arizona Inc. and the company's beneficiary, Robson Ranch Quail Creek LLC, filed a claim last month for fees they say never should have been charged. Robson is developing the Quail Creek community in the southeast part of the town of Sahuarita.
The company has been in court with the county over the sewer fees since 2004, when it filed a civil suit. That case and the newest claim allege the county is charging a higher sewer connection rate than it should be. Robson says it is installing the connection between the homes and the trunk line, or the sewer line that carries waste to a Pima County wastewater treatment plant in Green Valley.
The claim is for the difference in rates Robson believes it has overpaid.
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The county agrees the claim is a continuation of the suit.
"We charge everybody the same connection fee, and Robson is of the belief that we should be charging him less," said Chuck Wesselhoft, deputy Pima county attorney. Though the county has hired outside attorneys for the case, Wesselhoft is managing the case for the county.
Though separate from the civil suit on the same issues, the claim was filed to put Robson on record with updated information "solely as a protective measure," said Peter Gerstman, vice president and general counsel for Robson Communities Inc.
"I believe that the original lawsuit covers all sewer connection fees charged by the county over the past number of years. However, the county has taken positions suggesting that the court cannot grant relief on an ongoing basis and that new claims must be made and new lawsuits filed as additional amounts are charged by the county or when the county changes the sewer connection fee ordinance," Gerstman said in written comments to the Arizona Daily Star.
Robson has requested the court consolidate all of its county sewer fee cases, Gerstman said.
At issue is whether the infrastructure Robson is building to connect the homes to the county wastewater system warrants lower connection fees.
Robson argues it should pay about half of the average $5,600 it has paid for sewer connection fees for each residence in the Quail Creek community. By adding the connection between homes and the main sewer lines, the developer says it is not adding any burden to the county wastewater system.
"The Growing Smarter legislation, which was enacted by the state approximately 10 years ago, requires that development pay its fair share — but only its fair share — of the infrastructure costs incurred by the county as a result of development," Gerstman wrote. "The county raised the sewer connection fee from less than $2,000 per typical house in 2003 to approximately $5,600 in 2008, even though the county's costs did not justify the increases."
The county says the rate is calculated based on the impact to the treatment plant.
"The real cost for infrastructure is not the connection; it is the treatment process itself," Wesselhoft said.
Connection fees cover the costs for growth and service expansions, while monthly user fees pay for continuing costs of treating sewage, he said.
Though Quail Creek is in Sahuarita, it is outside the Sahuarita wastewater service area, so these homes connect to the county treatment plant in Green Valley.
"We charge everybody the same connection fee, and Robson is of the belief that we should be charging him less."
Chuck Wesselhoft
Deputy county attorney
