The Cost of Litigation: City Budgets Nearly $700K in Lawyer's Fees in 2013
(New Braunfels, TX) -- As the city continues its fight in court over the ban on disposable containers, and with budget season underway, many have been wondering how much the city is spending to hire outside law firms to defend its position in court. Of course, the city has other lawsuits they are dealing with too, most recently being served a breach of contract suit by NB Aero, a firm operating at the New Braunfels Regional Airport.
So KGNB News went to the city and asked them to provide us with how much money the city spent in the last year on hiring outside lawyers, and how much they project they’ll spend in the coming year.
According to their answer, the city budgeted around 319-thousand dollars for the 2011/2012 fiscal year for outside lawyers, but they project they’ll be a little over budget, with actual expenses in the 323-thousand dollar range.
As for the next fiscal year, the recommended budget currently in front of City Council budgets about 80-thousand dollars less for hiring outside attorneys, coming in at 240-thousand dollars. That lower number is because the city has recently hired two Assistant City Attorneys that have litigation experience in the hopes of cutting back on the amount spent on outside legal counsel.
Of course, those two new attorneys and the City Attorney, Val Acevedo, have their own salaries which total $450-thousand dollars. That means that, once combined, the City of New Braunfels is budgeting 690-thousand dollars in lawyer’s fees for 2013, with the in-house attorneys handling half of the cases and outside firms handling the other half. It’s worth noting, thought, that the overall budget comes in at 164.2-million dollars. Which means the cost of litigation comes in at roughly .4% of the overall budget.
We asked New Braunfels Mayor Gale Pospisil for her thoughts about spending money each year on lawyer's fees, and you can hear her thoughts by clicking the Audio Clip link below.
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(New Braunfels, TX) -- As the city continues its fight in court over the ban on disposable containers, and with budget season underway, many have been wondering how much the city is spending to hire outside law firms to defend its position in court. Of course, the city has other lawsuits they are dealing with too, most recently being served a breach of contract suit by NB Aero, a firm operating at the New Braunfels Regional Airport.
So KGNB News went to the city and asked them to provide us with how much money the city spent in the last year on hiring outside lawyers, and how much they project they’ll spend in the coming year.
According to their answer, the city budgeted around 319-thousand dollars for the 2011/2012 fiscal year for outside lawyers, but they project they’ll be a little over budget, with actual expenses in the 323-thousand dollar range.
As for the next fiscal year, the recommended budget currently in front of City Council budgets about 80-thousand dollars less for hiring outside attorneys, coming in at 240-thousand dollars. That lower number is because the city has recently hired two Assistant City Attorneys that have litigation experience in the hopes of cutting back on the amount spent on outside legal counsel.
Of course, those two new attorneys and the City Attorney, Val Acevedo, have their own salaries which total $450-thousand dollars. That means that, once combined, the City of New Braunfels is budgeting 690-thousand dollars in lawyer’s fees for 2013, with the in-house attorneys handling half of the cases and outside firms handling the other half. It’s worth noting, thought, that the overall budget comes in at 164.2-million dollars. Which means the cost of litigation comes in at roughly .4% of the overall budget.
We asked New Braunfels Mayor Gale Pospisil for her thoughts about spending money each year on lawyer's fees, and you can hear her thoughts by clicking the Audio Clip link below.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
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Legal fees
Why is it that the city refuses to release the invoices for the legal fees paid?
What are they hiding?
In the past the former city attorney released them after the TX AG ordered it. Now the city attorney is stalling. She doesn't want us to know who is getting the money or how much. Smells fishy to me. Maybe even illegal.
To prevent this all the city needs to do is play fair.
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The citizens money
The citizens of New Braunfels voted on the can ban...by a large margin (not just the city council). Suck it up and realize we don't want garbage in our town. And because you are selfish and only think about your bottom lines as businesses, you overlook our city and what we as citizens want. Then you spend our money...OUR MONEY...by sueing the city. Some of the outfitters and hotel owners doing the most complaining ARE NOT FROM NEW BRAUNFELS so the money that we are spending to defend the city isn't coming from their pockets. I call this a bunch of cry babies who can't take it when they lose. It's so sad that adults have to act like this. Face it, we as voting citizens don't want trash in our rivers. Get used to it and stop sueing the city over it.
Drop the kool-aid
Let me see if I understand your position correctly:
The city council passes an ordinance stating that Walmart is the only store allowed to operate in the city limits.
A group of residents and other businesses bring forth facts, case law, state law, federal law, Attorney General opinions, etc., showing that this is an illegal and unconstitutional ordinance, circulate a petition, and force a vote.
The City ignores this.
The pro-Walmart PAC spreads lies and false numbers about why Walmart is the only store we should have in NB.
During the election, the pro-Walmarters bus in people that have either never been to a Walmart, or haven't been to Walmart in 20, 30, 40 plus years. While on their bus trip, they are TOLD which way they shall vote, and in some documented and photographed instances, the ones too weak or incapacitated to vote, have their arms physically lifted to the voting screen.
The City ignores this.
The vote passes by a 58 to 42 percent margin.
You are now forced to shop at Walmart in New Braunfels, like it or not. And if you choose to shop elsewhere, you have to go to another town to do it.
The Chamber of Commerce has said that by only having a Walmart, the town will suffer. And it does. A lot.
The City ignores this.
The city then has to raise our property taxes 10% to cover these loses that they were TOLD would happen.
The people and business who were against this from the beginning are given no choice but to sue the City. Not that they don't like Walmart, or want all the other stores back, but for the simple fact that it is an ILLEGAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL ORDINANCE.
Am I correct in my understanding? This is what you are stating, is it not?
Like it or not, the City can pass WHATEVER law they wish, even it is illegal, and nothing but a lawsuit can change it. That is the way our system of government works. I am so tired of people saying, "If you're against the ban, you're for trash in the rivers." That is just idiotic, to say the least. The folks suing the city are doing so to put a stop to the city passing whatever laws they wish, with a complete disregard to State and Federal Laws.
The city knows they have no legal standing in this matter. That is a fact. By them conceding to the Judge in Austin that the rivers in New Braunfels are, indeed, navigable waterways, they also conceded that the State of Texas is the only entity with Police Power over said waterways.
This is not about trash. This is about a City that has operated for too long behind closed doors and in dark alley ways. Whether you support the idea behind the ban or not, everyone should be grateful that there are folks in this town who are willing to stand up to the city and fight for the Constitution of these United States.
I missed a court ruling
"If the City would quit passing unconstitutional and illegal ordinances" When did a judge rule the can ban unconstitutional or illegal (can ban)? If it was that cut and dry, we wouldn't be in court, would we?
Let Us Decide!
Really?
If the ordinance was "good to go" legally, the Judge would have granted the city's plea to drop the suit. Instead, he denied that plea, while at the same time ruling that the plaintiffs had standing to sue. The same thing happened in Austin a few months back. Even at that time, the judge that heard it up there could have dropped the case. The same thing in 2007, also.
The city knows that they have no legal standing in these cases, but yet they plow ahead with our money in tow, in hopes that the plaintiffs will just roll over and give up. The city thinks they can outlast the funds the plaintiffs have. That won't happen, especially when the city's lawyer has charged us close to $200,000 so far to represent the city, while the plaintiff's lawyer has charged only about $45,000 (quoted outside the court room).
The city needs to realize that they finally ticked off the wrong people. Not only in this case, but in the case of NB Aero as well. Their "above the law" mentality they've held for years is finally coming to a head.
Wow.... Just Wow....
Pospisil says if people would quit suing the City, there'd be no need to spend that kind of money.
How about this idea, Mayor: If the City would quit passing unconstitutional and illegal ordinances (can ban), running people out of business who are in competition with the City (NB Aero), or illegally using funds and tax monies for the wrong reasons (4B and HOT tax), THE CITY WOULDN'T GET SUED!!!! How's that for a novel idea?!?