Amador County – Amador County Unified School District’s Board of Trustees will consider a draft agreement with Amador County that would settle the school district’s law suit seeking tax revenue, with a settlement payment of $549,000.

Trustees will consider the settlement agreement, in which the County would pay the district, and the school district in turn would dismiss its litigation that is seeking $1.3 million dollars from the county, for tax revenue the School District believes it is still due, from the 2009-2010 school year.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Tim Zearley in a memo for this week’s School Board meeting, said the “parties have engaged in settlement negotiations seeking to jointly develop a course of action that will serve the interests of entities and the public.” Zearley wrote that “the parties desire to settle” the lawsuit “once and for all in order to avoid the expense and delay of litigation and without any admission of liability.”

The memo noted that the district filed a civil petition Dec. 29, 2011 in Amador County Superior Court alleging that the County incorrectly allocated property tax revenue for the 2009-2010 school year, and that the county has an absolute obligation to correct the misallocation by reimbursing the District in the amount of $1.3 million dollars.” The county denied that obligation, and “claimed that in the event a reallocation is required, the reallocation is less than the amount sought by the District.”

In the draft agreement, the County would pay the District $548,863 dollars within 12 days of signing the agreement, and within five days of the payment, the District would “file a dismissal with prejudice of the Litigation.”

The School Board will consider the draft settlement at its regular board meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the Supervisors’ Chambers.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.