Group to Raise Funds to Sue Over Use of Tax for Toll Road
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Residents of unincorporated Aliso Viejo have decided to sue the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies for using Mello-Roos tax revenue for the toll-road project and have set a fund-raising goal of $75,000 to help pay legal costs.
Deborah L. Anderson, president of the Aliso Viejo Citizens Action League, said Wednesday the group believes that a class-action lawsuit would be filed in the fall.
The group wants a judge to rule that more than $60 million in revenue should be refunded to the community because the money never should have been spent on the toll road under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982.
A spokeswoman for the corridor agencies has said she will not comment until she sees the league’s threatened lawsuit.
The group will begin a fund-raising campaign, asking the 20,000 residents in Aliso Viejo to join in the fight. Group leaders hope to get $25 from at least 3,000 people to pay legal costs.
“We were looking for a community investment,” Anderson said. “And this is a good idea.”
The league has hired Irvine attorney Jim Toledano.
“No attorney we called wanted to take this on a pro-bono basis,” Anderson said. “But we found Jim and he has told us he will be in this for the long fight.”
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