On one hand, it's not hard to figure out why the overall cost is rising: Lawsuits are flying like mad.
The city has sued the town, the town has sued the city, and the city has sued the James Island Public Service District. Several law firms are involved in the various suits.
Add up all the fees so far, and the total cost of the lawsuits is well above $300,000 and rising.
The town has racked up about $90,000 in legal expenses, said James Island Mayor Mary Clark. The city of Charleston has spent about $110,000 on legal fees and other expenses, said city attorney Susan Herdina. The PSD has spent about $128,000 on legal fees, said attorney Trent Kernodle.
James Island officials said the spending is both a waste of money caused by the city's suits and absolutely necessary to survive.
If the city had not sued the town and PSD, they said, the money could have gone to better uses. But they said also that they have to defend themselves.
"If it costs every cent we've got, it will be worth it. We have no choice," Clark said. "The city has cost the taxpayers of James Island all of that money."
PSD commissioner Eugene Platt called the spending "a coerced waste of public resources."
But Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said the town is to blame.
He said the creation of the town, which a circuit judge already has ruled was formed under an unconstitutional state law, forced the city to act.
The town will cost city residents hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in the form of lost sales tax revenues and other funds that are shared among county municipalities, he said.
"You could argue that this all stems from an attempt to form a city that is illegal," he said. "The city of Charleston is simply standing up for the truth and what is right and what is legal."
Riley said also that the costs of the suits will be far less than the long-term cost of the inefficiencies created by having two municipalities providing the same services on the island.
"Any way you look at it, the city's actions are worthwhile," Riley said.
The legal situation will not be resolved in the near future, and the costs will continue to grow.
The city won its suit against the town at the circuit court level, and the case now is headed to the S.C. Supreme Court. The PSD case, which involves whether the town and PSD can overlap, also likely is headed to the high court. In the third case, the town maintains that the city annexed a large piece of land that rightly belongs in the town.
The legal hostilities have island officials using the war in Iraq as a comparison to their situation.
"Our country has gone to war to give Iraqis the chance to choose their own government and get rid of a dictator," Clark said. "We don't want our dictator either. We want our own government."
Riley said that freedom and democracy are based on the rule of law, and the town is illegal.
"That's a very bad analogy." he said. "I would turn that the other way around and say that their argument is that the troops are fighting for freedom and democracy and yet we should stand by and let an illegal government be formed."
Clark, however, extended the military example a bit further.
"I want a Bradley, and guess which way I'm going to point the turret," she said.
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