Boise County files for bankruptcy

Quote from Dr. J : "The jury awarded the development firm Oaas Laney $4 million, plus attorneys’ fees, which the county says total about $1.4 million. Boise County has an operating budget of about $9.4 million." So that's over 57% of the yearly operating budget. The article doesn't really explain how/why the judgement was awarded - in other words, is the judgement amount proper? The article DOES say that the county doesn't have any bond debt, so this case is simply an entity that doesn't want to pay. Could it pay? It would be REALLY tough. Think of it this way - say you make $50k a year then you crash into someone and cause $29k in damages. Rather than pay them, you file for bankruptcy. Is that right? No - but again the details on this case are not very clear.

"Oaas-Laney sued Boise County last year, saying commissioners violated the Fair Housing Act when they undermined the proposal because of neighborhood opposition.

County officials maintained their actions were based on legitimate government interests.

The company sought zoning approval from Boise County in 2007 to build Alamar Ranch, a 72-bed private treatment facility and school that would have treated teens with emotional or substance abuse problems.

Residents of a nearby neighborhood organized the group Opponents of Alamar Ranch and mounted a campaign to keep the ranch from being built out of concern the teens would run away and commit crimes.

The group was also worried about fire suppression and traffic problems in the heavily forested area.

The county denied Oaas-Laney’s application, saying the center wasn’t appropriate for the location and the county didn’t have enough infrastructure to monitor and enforce the conditions of a conditional use permit.

Developers appealed the decision, saying Boise County had a duty under the Federal Housing Act to allow the center to be built because it would make housing available for the handicapped teens that Alamar wanted to serve. The permit was approved in 2008 but only with onerous conditions, according to the lawsuit.

Alamar Ranch could have no more than 24 teens and would have to build a second bridge over a nearby river, keep a fire truck on site and build a helicopter landing pad.

Those conditions made the project financially impossible and the development company was forced to give up on the effort, according to the lawsuit."

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/bo...led-teens/