EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. – Parties have come to an agreement on certain language initially proposed by vacancy tax proponents and legally challenged by former South Lake Tahoe Mayor, Tom Davis.

In a court proceeding that took less than a month in the El Dorado County Superior Court, the involved parties have agreed to amending the two statements in question concerning Measure N.

The challenged statements were made on materials that will eventually appear in official voter information guides. A shared concern was whether the court case would wrap up before the print deadline for those materials.

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Davis filed a petition on July 26, challenging Amelia Richmond, Nick Speal, C.T. Rowe, Kira Richardson, and Alicia Halpern’s ballot argument in favor of Measure N.

The challenged statement reads, “YES on N: Can ONLY be spent on HOUSING, ROADS & TRANSIT.”

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Davis argued Measure N can also be spent on administrative costs required to implement the measure.

He soon thereafter filed an amended petition on July 31, incorporating a challenge to Seth Howard, Dorothy Dean, Sierra Riker, Angelique Carl, and John Ruiz’s rebuttal to an argument against Measure N.

Their challenged statement reads, “Funds can ONLY be spent on housing, roads, and transit for the community – not 2nd homes.”

Davis asserted the same challenge to this statement, that funds can also be spent on administrative costs.

While authors of the challenged statements dispute Davis’ assertions and believe their statements truthful and not misleading, a stipulation and court order filed on Monday, Aug. 12, states it is in both the challenging and defending parties’ best interest to resolve the matter without further litigation.

Both statements now include “necessary administrative costs.”

The court documents amend the initial challenged statement to now read, “Yes on N: Can be spent on HOUSING, ROADS, TRANSIT & NECESSARY ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.”

And the second statement, “Funds can be spent on housing, roads, and transit for the community, and necessary administrative costs – not 2nd homes.”

The changes removed the word “only” from both statements and revise bold font and capitalization.

The court issued a Writ of Mandate to City of South Lake Tahoe, City Clerk Susan Blankenship and El Dorado County Registrar of Voters, Bill O’Neill, requiring they make the changes such that the argument and rebuttal may be timely presented to voters in official election materials.

An initiative against Measure N, called Stop the South Tahoe Vacancy Tax, provided a release with a statement from Davis.

“When it’s information in the Official Voter Information Guide, it’s held to a higher standard,” Davis’s statement says. “The Measure N folks have been playing fast and loose with the truth from day one, but when they lied in the Voter Information Guide, I couldn’t let it stand.”

One of the authors of a challenged statement named in the suit is 30-year resident C.T. Rowe who feels Davis could have handled matters differently. “Tom Davis and I have stood in front of my house talking about our classic Cadillacs,” Rowe told the Tribune. “Tom could’ve easily stopped by for a chat instead of suing me, but decided on the lawsuit.”

Rowe adds, “This is emblematic of the difference between people who want to bring new residents to South Lake Tahoe versus people who don’t mind seeing the town hollowed out from the middle, leaving only very wealthy and very poor.”

If voted in at the Nov. 5 election, Measure N would establish a $3,000 tax the first year and $6,000 tax consecutive years on homeowners whose house sits vacant a majority of the year.

Part of the debate on Measure N, stirred up by this lawsuit, comes down to the different interpretations of the variable numbers put out by the city’s report on the measure.

Proponents, Yes on Measure N, say in their response to the court proceedings, “Voters can read the language changes and decide for themselves if it was worth suing ten local residents to inform voters this measure will fully cover its own administration, and still provide more than $19 million toward more housing, road repair and transit each year.”

While Steve Teshara, Campaign Co-Chair of Stop the Vacancy Tax provided, “Measure N requires the City of South Lake Tahoe to track the occupancy of each and every home in the City. Over 16,000 of them in fact.” He continues, “We have little doubt that the size and cost to the City for tax program administration, including enforcement will be significant, and may in fact consume the lion’s share of any revenue raised by Measure N.”

Voters can expect to receive the Measure N Voter Information Guide containing the amended documents as well as other arguments and rebuttals after Oct. 7.