ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD
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BODY POLITIC by Jack Archibald, Atlantic Highlands Councilman

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AH DEMS IGNORE WARNING ABOUT EXCESSIVE ATTORNEY BILLING

Take this to the bank: by the end of 2005, the governing body of Atlantic Highlands will have to make an emergency appropriation to pay borough attorney Janice Miller. It is not that her work isn’t of high quality, rather, the Atlantic Highlands Democrats have allowed the borough attorney to bill at will.

By allowing the attorney free reign in interpreting her retainer agreement, the Democrats have ceded the borough’s pocketbook. The numbers and vouchers don’t lie.

By the end of July, 83% of the allotted budget for the year has been used. And believe it or not, the Democrats increased that budget an extra $5,000 increase this year- making the part time attorney one of the few departments in our borough to get an increase. The $40,000 budget for legal expenses does not include the $25,000 retainer that is already in place to cover legal advice. To be fair, the retainer is the same that Republicans used for their attorney, but Mr. Reilly rarely billed for matters that our current attorney considers outside her retainer.

And the borough does not have any new lawsuits to justify the increase.

Among the expenditures that the Democrats have let the taxpayers foot the bill for are 5 hours at $110 per hour to review contracts for paving the harbor parking lot! Another $2,100 in routine phone calls from the attorney to Councilwoman Stephanie Ladiana. They also approved paying the attorney to attend a Green Acres seminar, when three other officials from the borough were attending at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The list could go on, but space prevents adding to the outrage.

The minority has tried to send a wake up call to the Democrat majority about the excessive billing since earlier this year. However, the chairman of the finance committee refuses to implement any controls against this blatant churning and the Mayor chirps about Republicans playing politics. It is time for the Democrats to acknowledge that the bills are out of control and that our taxpayers deserve better treatment.