The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have voted to use more than $4.4 million in taxpayer money to pay fees for attorneys who won a racial profiling case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Federal law lets the winners of civil rights cases seek reimbursement for legal costs.
Supervisor Steve Gallardo said he recognizes the reason for county’s part in paying for the plaintiff’s legal cost — but that didn’t mean he agreed with it.
“But, none the less we’re on the hook for paying for this. Or, I should say, the taxpayers are on the hook for paying for this. And this is, just again, another unfortunately another incident," Gallardo said. "I mean, what we could have done with the money, other than paying it to attorney’s. I understand why we’re doing what we’re doing."
Other board members agreed with Gallardo’s sentiments before finally approving the payment.
Wednesday’s vote by the Board brings the amount of taxpayer money spent on Arpaio's profiling case to more than $48 million.
