A legal dispute between the Warren County Commission and the county’s collector of revenue appears to be at an end, with the last order of business being the bills.Franklin County Associate Circuit Judge David L. Hoven delivered a ruling in favor of Collector Julie Schaumberg in April. The county commission had sought a court judgment directing Schaumberg to comply with the commission’s order to waive late fees on a taxpayer’s 2017 bill.County funds are paying the legal bills of both sides. The total cost to pay the attorneys involved is about $50,800.The Record reported in January that the county commission had spent $26,000 on the services of attorney Ivan L. Schraeder between March and November 2018. Since then, the commission accumulated about $7,200 in additional legal fees through April, according to monthly invoice records.Those costs include paying almost $1,400 for Schraeder to attend a court hearing April 9.The county was billed $330 per hour for Schraeder’s services, with additional charges for mileage when Schraeder attended court hearings.Overall, the Warren County Commission was billed more than $33,300 to seek a favorable court order and force Schaumberg to waive the disputed late fees.But as the county collector, the cost for Schaumberg’s lawyers also is coming out of the county’s coffers. That adds about $17,500 to the total bills.The two sides appear to have resolved a dispute over whether the collector will be allowed to use a discretionary fund for her office to pay for the legal services. Payments were released earlier this month, representatives said.The collector’s office was billed $225 per hour to employ Attorney David E. Roland, plus mileage for him to travel from Mexico, Mo., for court hearings. His bill added up to almost $10,000 at the end of November 2018, and accrued another $5,800 before the lawsuit was resolved in April.That includes $945 for just over four hours of service the day of the April 9 hearing.Another attorney for the collector, Lydia McEvoy, waived all of her hourly fees for Schaumberg’s case. She charged a $1,000 flat fee and $765 in travel expenses to travel from Kansas City for multiple court hearings.The lawsuit stemmed from a disagreement about how to handle a Warren County resident’s 2017 tax bill.The Warren County Commission in early 2018 decided to intervene on behalf of a taxpayer who believed she sent her property tax payment on time, but had been told it wasn’t received by the collector’s office. The taxpayer refused to pay the late fee, and the collector’s office declined to accept the original amount of the bill as payment without the fee.Commissioners ordered Schaumberg to waive the penalty and accept payment for the original bill, but Schaumberg refused. She said state statute requires her to assess penalties on all late payments.In April 2018, the commission filed a lawsuit, seeking a court order for Schaumberg’s compliance.Warren County Administration Building