A small Missouri city must deplete its bank accounts — except for enough money to keep the police force intact — to pay a judgment that found it violated a resident’s First Amendment rights and the Missouri Sunshine Law, a court ruled last week.
Phelps County Circuit Judge John Beger directed Edgar Springs to pay $47,886 immediately, put a tax increase on the November ballot and dedicate all general revenue of more than $2,500 a month to satisfying the $79,716 judgment entered in December 2023.
“Where, as here, a court of record has issued a judgment against a municipality, the municipality has both a legal and moral obligation to pay its debts and as long as there is no limitation on the municipality’s ability to pay those debts, the performance of this duty is not discretionary,” Beger wrote in the order issued Sept. 4.
In his 2023 order, Beger found that Edgar Springs — a town of 200 in southern Phelps County — had attempted to “intimidate and silence” Rebecca Varney by banning her from city hall for four years, and for holding several closed meetings with business that should have been conducted in public.
Varney, a longtime resident of the community, began looking into city finances after receiving a traffic ticket in 2018. She was concerned that the town’s police force was using traffic offenses as a means of generating revenue and began visiting city hall frequently to review documents.
Varney also circulated a petition for a state audit of the city, which found numerous problems, including Sunshine Law violations and financial management issues.
Beger ordered the city to pay Varney a nominal fine of $150 but also ordered the city to pay her costs in bringing the lawsuit.
The city filed an appeal but dropped it in March.
In his order last week, Beger found that state law allows him to order the city to pay Varney all unrestricted funds, except the money necessary to pay the salaries of “the mayor, council, assessor, marshal, constable, attorney and a reasonable police force…”
State law also directs that the courts “shall make all necessary orders to secure the prompt and speedy payment of such debt.”
The city doesn’t pay the mayor or council a salary and has no marshal or constable, Beger noted. The city pays its attorney $1,000 a month and the two-person police force was paid $1,477 in the month of June.
Beger directed that all general fund money held by the city in excess of $10,000, and all new revenue in excess of $2,500 a month, should be dedicated to repaying Varney. He exempted accounts for the sewer utility, street maintenance and federal grants, which all have limits on how they can be used.
“The court is sensitive to the fact that the city is small and has limited resources,” Beger wrote. “It is also sensitive to the fact that it was the city’s own choices that led to the final judgment debt it now owes to the plaintiff.”
As of Monday afternoon, the town had not made a payment, said Dave Roland, director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri and Varney’s attorney. Roland uses money received for court costs in cases he wins for the center to finance new litigation to enforce the Sunshine Law.
“They have sent a proposal that said, well, we might be willing to pay you part of this, but it’s going to be subject to approval by the auditor’s office,” Roland said in an interview with The Independent. “And I responded, you’re under court order, and the auditor’s office is neither a party to the case, nor are they part of the judiciary, so they don’t have anything to say about that.”
Greg Dohrman, attorney for the city, did not return a call seeking comment.
The city has complied with Beger’s directive to place a tax increase of 30 cents per $100 assessed value on the Nov. 5 ballot. If approved, it would generate about $5,500 a year and last for four years.
The court cannot order the tax to be imposed, only that it be placed on the ballot, Beger noted in his ruling.
Interest on the judgment is accruing at 9% per year and the amount the city now owes is about $85,000, Roland said. If the city refuses to pay, he said, he will have to take them back to court.
“I told them in no uncertain terms, if you defy a court order, then we’re going to pursue the remedies provided that allows the city officials responsible to be charged with contempt,” Roland said.
