FLDS church tries to pay $192K in past-due fees

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press FOX 11 - Tucson, Arizona

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A court-appointed accountant has rejected a $192,600 payment of past-due occupancy fees made under protest Monday by a southern-Utah polygamous church. "The payment was made under protest. I don't think we can accept it," Bruce Wisan said. The sum is half of what is owed by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for six months of occupancy fees on homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The homes in the twin towns and a church enclave in Bountiful, British Columbia, are held in the $114 million United Effort Plan Trust. The Utah courts took control of the UEP in 2005 after allegations of mismanagement. The FLDS have been negotiating a settlement with the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona and with Wisan, who oversees the trust, to regain control of the UEP's church land. Third District Judge Denise Lindberg ordered the FLDS to pay the fees last fall. She imposed the Monday deadline last week and said if the FLDS failed to pay, she would consider allowing church land to be sold. "As a peaceful people, we believe that settlement is the best way to resolve differences," FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said in a statement. He acknowledged the payment was made under protest. All residents of trust homes - whether occupied by FLDS or non-FLDS - are required by the court to pay a $100 monthly occupancy fee to Wisan. The FLDS paid the fees for two months last year, but claim that in February, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff brokered a deal with Wisan to forgive the fees during settlement talks and only collect the proceeds of milk sales from a church dairy in Beryl. According to the FLDS, Wisan chose to collect some $100,000 in milk money instead of over $40,000 in monthly occupancy fees. But Wisan denies making such a deal. "Mark Shurtleff never contacted me and said 'choose between the milk money and the monthly assessments,'" Wisan said. Shurtleff was traveling Monday and unavailable for comment. Shurtleff's spokesman, Paul Murphy, said the FLDS check was delivered, but Wisan's attorneys refused to accept it. Murphy said that by paying "under protest" the FLDS are preserving their right to challenge in court whether the payment should have ever been made. An assistant attorney general will ask the judge for direction on Tuesday, Murphy said. "We said stick it," Wisan's attorney Jeff Shields said Monday night. "We want the money. We think we're owed the money ... you can't conditionally pay." The other half of the $385,200 total fees is due June 15 - the same day the parties are to submit a settlement proposal to the judge. It's unclear if a settlement can be reached. Shurtleff has said there is a general framework for a deal between his office and the FLDS. But Arizona and Wisan have both said they cannot accept the current proposal. Among the issues are the distribution of undeveloped land and homes held by the trust and payment of some $2.6 million in debts to Wisan and others. In 2005, the states of Utah and Arizona sought control of the trust, contending that church leader Warren Jeffs had used its communal assets for his own benefit. Jeffs is now serving a prison sentence on a 2007 conviction of accomplice to rape for his role in an arranged marriage involving a then 14-year-old follower in Utah. He is awaiting trial on criminal charges in Arizona and Texas also related to underage marriages. --- On the Net: The United Effort Plan Trust: http://www.ueptrust.com Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: http://www.fldstruth.org

fox11az.com Originally published Tuesday, June 2, 2009

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