AUBURN — The county municipalities suing the Androscoggin County Commission over the commissioners’ salaries and the power of the Budget Committee filed a motion in Superior Court on Tuesday seeking to allow the town of Livermore to withdraw from a lawsuit “without prejudice.”

The filing with the court reveals that the county commissioners have already spent more than $44,000 in the first three months since the lawsuit was filed. Little has happened except the filing of a few motions.

Commissioners have spent another $16,000 on “charter issues” this year, according to the motion.

In the proposed 2016 county budget, commissioners have requested $150,000 for attorney expenses. The amount budgeted for 2015 was $35,000.

Tuesday’s request was filed in court after lawyers representing the commissioners objected to the dismissal without prejudice.

Legal dictionaries define “without prejudice” in civil matters as a dismissal that would allow the town to rejoin the suit in the future.

According to the motion, filed on behalf of the municipalities by attorney Peter Brann, “After hearing about Defendants’ scorched earth litigation tactics, such as opposing routine motions to amend and motions for enlargement and Defendants’ apparently unlimited budget for those tactics … Livermore concluded that it could not afford endless, expensive litigation.”  

The lawsuit, with Lewiston in the lead, was filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court in July and contends that commissioners overstepped their powers in approving the county budget by voting in higher salaries and benefits for themselves than what was approved by the Budget Committee in 2014.

It asks for the return of all salaries and benefits not approved by the Budget Committee.

The amended suit also seeks to deny the commissioners from having the county pay for their legal bills.

The towns of Livermore and Wales were the only two of the 14 county municipalities not to join the original lawsuit. Livermore selectpersons voted in August to join the suit.

The 12 original municipalities in the lawsuit are Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon, Turner, Greene, Poland, Durham, Sabattus, Mechanic Falls, Livermore Falls, Minot and Leeds.

The  motion to add Livermore was granted despite objections from the commissioners.

But Livermore voted Monday to withdraw from the suit because of the expected expense that is being shared by the municipalities. According to Administrative Assistant Carrie Castonguay on Monday, about $15,000 has been spent by the town’s attorney, which was the amount estimated for the entire case.

The municipalities would need at least another $20,000 to finalize the case, Castonguay said.

“Although it is unfortunate that Livermore succumbed to Defendants’ war of attrition, it is understandable,” Brann wrote in the motion.

Representing the seven commissioners are attorneys Ronald Lebel, Bryan Dench and Amy Dieterich.

 At issue in the lawsuit is who has final authority over the county budget — the commissioners or the Budget Committee.

Voters in Androscoggin County approved the county charter on Nov. 6, 2012, by a vote of 27,838 to 19,354. According to an earlier motion to dismiss filed by the commissioners, the county discovered soon after the vote “that the document approved by the voters contained numerous errors, inconsistencies and omissions.”

The commissioners sought a legislative fix with a resolve approved by both the Legislature and Gov. Paul LePage on June 21, 2013. Among the changes were having the Budget Committee’s power to approve the final budget shifted back to the commissioners, who would adopt the final version.

The municipalities oppose that change, which led to the salary dispute.

Because the new charter increased the number of commissioners from three to seven members and added the new position of county administrator, commissioners proposed reducing their yearly salaries from $7,200 to $5,000 — and from $8,292 to $5,500 for the chairman.

That wasn’t enough for the Budget Committee, which cut the salaries to $3,000 and $3,500, respectively, and eliminated all health benefits.

The three commissioners at the time were Beth Bell, Elaine Makas and Randall Greenwood. The vote was 2-0-1, with Greenwood abstaining, to reject the Budget Committee’s ruling and approve a yearly salary of $5,000, with an extra $500 for the chairman and individual health benefits of about $8,400 per commissioner.

Bell, Makas and Greenwood are still county commissioners. The four new members are Ronald Chicoine, Sally Christner, Alfreda Fournier and Matthew Roy. All seven are named in the suit.

ssherlock@sunjournal.com