The Warren County Commission has paid more than $26,000 in attorney fees in a lawsuit over whether it can order the county’s collector of revenue to waive late fees from a tax bill.A trial date in the case has been set for June 11 in Warren County Circuit Court, although an earlier court ruling is possible.The Warren County Commission is seeking a court order to require Collector of Revenue Julie Schaumberg to waive late fees and penalties on a 2017 bill. Schaumberg said at the outset of the lawsuit that her office never received the $832 payment, and that she is legally obligated to assess a penalty.In order to avoid further complications with their 2018 tax bill, Schaumberg said the taxpayer relented at the end of last December and made payment in full for both 2017 and 2018. After 12 months of nonpayment, they owed $238 in penalties and interest, Schaumberg said.Despite payment, the lawsuit remains in motion.The taxpayer had sought the county commission’s intervention after initially refusing to pay the late fee, saying she had sent a check for the bill along with another check for a second bill that the collector’s office processed. Commissioners ordered Schaumberg to waive the late fee and accept payment in the original amount of the tax bill. Schaumberg refused, citing state statute.Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner in December said the commission sided with the taxpayer because Schaumberg did not follow a practice that would have allowed her to verify or disprove the taxpayer’s claim. Kluesner said the previous collector saved every envelope sent with tax payments to prove there weren’t any checks that got missed.“This whole dispute is based on the fact that if (Schaumberg) had kept any kind of record that the lady had paid or not paid, we would not be in this dispute,” Kluesner said.Newly elected Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus declined to comment for this story.Schaumberg defended her office, saying she is confident no payment was sent for the bill.“My office is very careful with how we handle checks, and had it been in the envelope we would have processed the payment,” Schaumberg said.$26,000 paidMonthly invoices for the services of attorney Ivan L. Schraeder show the county commission has paid $26,125 from March through November, an average of about $2,900 per month.The county is billed $330 per hour for Schraeder’s services. That breaks down to $5.50 per minute, although the county is billed in six-minute, $33 increments.The highest invoice so far was for April 2018, when the commission paid Schraeder almost $8,200. That was the month Schraeder drafted the formal lawsuit and initiated legal proceedings in Warren County Circuit Court.Invoices from Schraeder document how he spent the time Warren County is being billed for. Much of it is expert legal services such as legal research, drafting official legal documents for the court, and representing the commission at two court hearings thus far. But the commission is also billed for time spent speaking with Schraeder on the phone, the time it takes to schedule court dates, and the time Schraeder spends traveling when he comes to Warrenton.For example, on April 2 the commission spent 12 minutes on the phone with Schraeder. For that the county was charged $66. Another $264 was billed for less than an hour to file the lawsuit and send it to Schaumberg and relevant attorneys.When Schraeder traveled to Warrenton to meet with the commission for several hours, that accrued a bill of over $1,500. When Schraeder spent a full day in Warrenton for a court hearing Aug. 30, the county was billed $2,475.Collector's attorneysSchaumberg also is accruing attorney fees of over $10,000 so far. Another potential legal fight is looming over their payment.Invoices provided by the collector’s office show attorney Lydia McEvoy is owed $629 for mileage to travel to Warrenton from Kansas City for court hearings. McEvoy is not charging the collector any other fee for service.The second attorney for Schaumberg, David E. Roland of Mexico, Mo., has submitted an invoice to Schaumberg’s office for $9,976 for services rendered through the end of November. The collector is billed $225 per hour for Roland’s service.The attorneys for Schaumberg serve a similar function to the county commission’s attorney: legal research, reviewing and submitting filings to the court, and consulting each other and Schaumberg over the phone (a six-minute phone call with Roland costs $22.50).Schaumberg has thus far been prevented from paying her attorneys because the county commission has blocked her use of a discretionary fund dedicated to the collector’s office. Schaumberg said the commission has denied payment with the stated reason that the county has not approved a service contract with the collector’s attorneys.“Although I feel this is a total waste of taxpayer resources, if the commission continues to refuse to let my office pay for my defense, I will have no choice but to sue the commission over that refusal,” Schaumberg said.Warren County Administration Building