The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to waive more than $42,000 in penalties lodged against the Hotel Jeffery. The action came near the end of a long session on Tuesday.

County Administrative Officer (CAO) Rick Benson explained to the board that the hotel’s owners, Peter and Cherylann Schimmelfennig, had requested the board waive the penalty that stemmed from non-payment of Transient Occupancy Tax soon after the hotel reopened in 2004. The penalty is double the amount of the TOT that was due.

The county’s ordinance that regulates the penalty is clear. “Staff believes this penalty was charged appropriately,” Benson told the board. He said the ordinance did not give any staff member the leeway to waive the penalty. “Only the board can change that,” Benson said. “You are to act in the public interest.”

When the hotel was audited, its owners promptly paid the $22,000 in TOT that was owed the county. Benson said that while waiving the fee could set precedence, he recognized that this situation had extenuating circumstances.

There was a fair amount of confusion over the hotel’s original occupancy permit. Peter Schimmelfennig explained that it took years to get the fire marshal’s approval, and then the appeals process was unclear.

The process stretched on for years. “I did not know that we were looking at the magnitude of fine that came barreling down on us,” Schimmelfennig told the board. “After paying the taxes, I thought it was done. Who’d have really thunk that it could possibly get this high?”

Meanwhile, Schimmelfennig’s wife has been battling a serious medical issue, and the travel economy has been strained.