By Edward Gately
The Arizona Republic
The Fountain Hills Town Council relented Thursday and agreed to pay a state-mandated fee to the Arizona Department of Water Resources after the Attorney General’s Office threatened legal action.
Fountain Hills was the last Arizona municipality to pay the fee, which was due in January. The majority of the council had refused to vote to pay the $28,017 fee for several months. They hoped to send a message to the Legislature objecting to expenses being imposed on municipalities to balance the state’s budget.
The council voted unanimously to pay the fee, to be taken from the town’s development services department.
The town received a letter, dated Aug. 15 from the attorney general’s Bankruptcy and Collection Enforcement division. If the town didn’t respond within 10 days “appropriate legal action will be taken against you,” the letter said.
Bisbee, the only other holdout, paid the fee when it received the letter.
