Raven
Sunday, January 13th, 2008, 08:13 PM
When Victor town attorney Michael Jones represents the town in its day-to-day activities, he gets paid an hourly fee of $135. But when Jones represents the town on a proposed development, he gets paid $175 an hour.
The town, in turn, bills the developers to get reimbursed for the time Jones spent on their projects. But that could change as Victor, like Canandaigua, is taking a look at how it pays for legal representation.
In 2007, Victor spent about $185,250 in legal fees, with Jones being paid about $130,000 and the rest going to special counsels hired by the town, said town Finance Director Michael Dollard.
Jones, who did not return calls for comment, also has a private practice and does work for other local governments. Dollard said the rate paid to Jones for routine town work is less than charged to developers because he gives the town a discount.
Charge-backs that Victor received for Jones' work were as high as about $102,000 in 2005 but last year were about $28,250, according to Dollard. Use of charge-backs is authorized by Victor town law. Canandaigua and Farmington also use charge-backs to recoup legal fees.
But in Monroe County, a sampling of towns shows that, while developers are expected to cover the engineering costs, charge-backs for the work of town attorneys are not billed to the developers. Instead, town attorneys are paid a salary.
Victor Planning Board member Dawn Grosso said that the town should not use the charge-back for legal fees. With so much development, she said, Victor should have its own lawyer on a salary.
Such a system, she said, takes away any motive for the town attorney to favor a developer. "No one can point a finger at you saying, 'You work for the developer,'" said Grosso.
Farmington Supervisor Ted Fafinski said that the charge-back system is best for his town. "I am not going to have the taxpayer pay for a development. The developer pays for the services rendered," Fafinski said.
Lori Mithen, acting counsel for the Association of Towns of the State of New York, said that she frequently gets calls from local officials asking about establishing charge-backs, which must be authorized by local law.
Patricia Salkin, director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, said the key issue is whether the independence of the town attorney could be compromised. "In general, the canons of ethics say it's OK to be allowed to have someone else pay but you have to have represent the town, not the person paying you," she said.
Source (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS01/801130332/1002/NEWS)
The town, in turn, bills the developers to get reimbursed for the time Jones spent on their projects. But that could change as Victor, like Canandaigua, is taking a look at how it pays for legal representation.
In 2007, Victor spent about $185,250 in legal fees, with Jones being paid about $130,000 and the rest going to special counsels hired by the town, said town Finance Director Michael Dollard.
Jones, who did not return calls for comment, also has a private practice and does work for other local governments. Dollard said the rate paid to Jones for routine town work is less than charged to developers because he gives the town a discount.
Charge-backs that Victor received for Jones' work were as high as about $102,000 in 2005 but last year were about $28,250, according to Dollard. Use of charge-backs is authorized by Victor town law. Canandaigua and Farmington also use charge-backs to recoup legal fees.
But in Monroe County, a sampling of towns shows that, while developers are expected to cover the engineering costs, charge-backs for the work of town attorneys are not billed to the developers. Instead, town attorneys are paid a salary.
Victor Planning Board member Dawn Grosso said that the town should not use the charge-back for legal fees. With so much development, she said, Victor should have its own lawyer on a salary.
Such a system, she said, takes away any motive for the town attorney to favor a developer. "No one can point a finger at you saying, 'You work for the developer,'" said Grosso.
Farmington Supervisor Ted Fafinski said that the charge-back system is best for his town. "I am not going to have the taxpayer pay for a development. The developer pays for the services rendered," Fafinski said.
Lori Mithen, acting counsel for the Association of Towns of the State of New York, said that she frequently gets calls from local officials asking about establishing charge-backs, which must be authorized by local law.
Patricia Salkin, director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, said the key issue is whether the independence of the town attorney could be compromised. "In general, the canons of ethics say it's OK to be allowed to have someone else pay but you have to have represent the town, not the person paying you," she said.
Source (http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS01/801130332/1002/NEWS)