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It is fair to say that attorney Brad Schroeder is tired of being labeled a money-grubber by Des Moines city officials who were stung last week by a judge’s ruling that the city had levied an illegal tax on its residents.

The ruling came with a price tag that could approach $50 million in refunds for a franchise fee on utilities that, according to Polk County District Judge Joel Novak, exceeded its legal boundaries.

Novak’s ruling came in a class-action lawsuit initiated in 2004 by Lisa Kragnes, who opened her utility bill one day and found that she was being charged for something other than her actual use of gas and electricity.

Over the next five years, Kragnes and Schroeder won rulings both in district court and the Iowa Supreme Court that the city had to levy the fee based on the actual costs of granting the franchises and administering them.

On June 3, Novak said in a 49-page ruling that the city claimed more costs than allowed by law and that about $9 million of the $12.6 million the city collected each year from the franchise fee was the result of an illegal tax. He said the city would have to refund the excessive charges.

Schroeder has been stung by emotional allegations that he took the case because he saw the potential for a windfall for himself.

The day after the ruling, Schroeder provided the Business Record with a memo he sent last October, just prior to the start of the franchise fee trial, turning down an offer from Assistant City Attorney Mark Godwin to settle the case for Schroeder’s attorney fees and out-of-pocket expenses.

Godwin was out of the office Thursday and could not be reached for comment. City Attorney Bruce Bergman declined comment.

Schroeder told the Business Record that he would have accepted a settlement offer that included money for the class, meaning every resident of the city.

“We didn’t spend any time thinking about it” because the settlement wasn’t being offered to the class, he said.