BILLING, Mont. (AP) - Six Billing residents have filed a lawsuit against the city to halt franchise fees on utility bills and hope to get restitution for people who have paid them.
The Billings Gazette reports the residents filed their lawsuit Wednesday and have asked District Court Judge Mary Jane Knisely to certify their lawsuit as a class action as more than 30,000 residents and businesses have paying the franchise fees installed eight years ago.
Kristen Juras and Matthew Monforton, the lawyers for the group, says the franchise fees generated more than $2.3 million during the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The lawsuit calls the franchise fees “illegal sales taxes.”
A similar franchise fee was defeated in the Montana Supreme Court in 2003.
City Administrator Bruce McCandless says the fees have been removed from the proposed 2018-19 budget.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com
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