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City of Cordele Agrees to Suspend Regulatory Fee AND Pays CAAG $6000.00 in Attorney Fees

03 Dec 2015 2:15 PM | Bruce Widener (Administrator)

After a year and a half of legal maneuvers and court actions, the City of Cordele has finally agreed to suspend charging certain "regulatory fees" and has paid $6,000.00 in attorney's fees to CAAG.  This is a result of legislation CAAG got passed years ago. 


In this lawsuit brought by CAAG on behalf of its member, Pro-Tech Services, Byron, GA and any other members who might do business in the City of Cordele, the City of Cordele has finally agreed to: 


1. change its method of determining permit fees. It has been charging a $10 permit fee and $5 per ton up to 5 tons and an additional $2 per ton over 5 tons. Now they will charge a flat fee of $20.


2. suspend charging an Occupational Tax (Business License) to companies who do not have a location in their jurisdiction. 


3. Give a credit to any contractor for any amount paid over $20 for any permit between 1/1/13 and 11/25/15.


4. Pay $6,0000.00 of our attorney's fees.

In June, 2014, I sent a letter to the City of Cordele telling them they could not charge an Occupational Tax or Business License fee to a company that did not have a location in their jurisdiction and sent them a copy of our Settlement Agreement with DeKalb County where they paid $5,000.00 of our attorney's fees when we filed suit against them.  Later I sent them a copy of the letter from Crisp County (their home county) saying they agreed with CAAG and would no longer charge an Annual Permit Fee of $45. However, the City of Cordele refused to change so I had our attorney threaten to sue them and they still refused. We then filed suit and took depositions. Now a year and a half later, CAAG won and they paid $6,000 in legal fees!  

With the City of Cordele paying $6,000 and DeKalb County paying $5,000 to CAAG for attorney's fees, other cities and counties will see that CAAG is serious about suing to protect the rights of our contractor members.


This is another case of CAAG fighting for our members and winning!


This what CAAG uses it's PAC funds and other funds for.  If you would like to contribute to our fund so that we can continue our efforts, please send your contribution and make payable to:


CAAG PAC

P.O. Box 910

Hartwell, GA 30643

Thank you for your support!


CLICK HERE FOR A COPY OF THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT



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