Ending over a year of litigation, the Hayden Lake Recreational Water and Sewer District has reached a settlement with two assisted living facilities that had challenged tens of thousands of dollars in sewer fees.

"Both parties are pleased that it's behind them," said Chuck Dean, attorney representing Haydenview Cottage, LLC and By the Lake Assisted Living Homes, LLC. "They're just sorry that they had to be subject to this litigation to get to this point."

The district's attorneys have stated the district discovered a few years back that the two for-profit facilities were being charged as single family residences.

Deeming them commercial entities, the district charged $48,000 from Haydenview and more than $70,000 from By the Lake in 2010 to cover capitalization fees and other underpaid fees.

When the owners objected, the district sued both facilities in fall, 2010 in state court. Nonprofit Intermountain Fair Housing Council responded by filing a suit in federal court against the district on the facilities' behalf.

"I can't even imagine how much the district has spent on this," Dean said.

The settlement this month determined the district will pay $5,500 to the owners of Haydenview Cottage, Joseph Skala and Rebbeca Nixon.

An earlier decision by a U.S. magistrate judge had deemed that Haydenview's small population of residents qualifies it to be charged as a single family residence.

"Under the settlement, the Skalas' facility will be deemed by the district to be a single family residence, and will be assessed as such," Dean said, adding that the district's payment is for attorney's fees.

The judge's decision for Haydenview had not extended to By the Lake, which housed 12 individuals at the time and didn't fall into the single family residence definition.

The settlement dictates that By the Lake owners, Lawrence and Kathleen Chmura, must pay the district $15,080 to purchase 2.6 ERs (equivalent residencies) for the facility's usage.

The amount will be paid over a decade with no interest.

Kathleen Chmura said she was happy to agree to end the litigation.

"I agreed, 'OK, fine, just do the two and a half whatevers, and let's call it a day,'" she said with a laugh. "I don't like lawsuits. It's not a nice thing. And I didn't want to keep going on."

Lynn Hagman, district administrator, said the district is "fine" with how the settlement turned out.

She referred other questions to the district's attorney Michael Schmidt, who could not be reached for comment.

The settlement also stipulates for the district to pay $1,500 to the IFHC and coordinate a fair housing education meeting in the district's facilities within the next year.

Ken Nagy, attorney for the IFHC, said the nonprofit is always willing to train the public on the Fair Housing Act.

"The settlement is a global settlement," Nagy said. "Everybody's claims are resolved."