In watching Mayor Higgins' recent budget meeting with the Finance Committee she took issue with a recent, "tabloid article" regarding the amount of money paid for legal services and she was right. Only it was a blog posting on Northampton Redoubt. In that entry, "Legal Services wink-blink," I stated,
"At last count the legal services budget for fiscal year 2009 was over budget by about $350 thousand, standing presently at about $450 thousand in obligations. Someone correct me if I'm wrong as I've been adding it up in my head as the council meetings go by."
Well, no one corrected me, but this is wrong and I apologize for the error.
The city's finance director, Christopher Pile, informs me that the orginal appropriation for legal services in fiscal year 2009 was $108,710. On March 5 the council appropriated an additional $50,000, a 46% increase, bringing the total approved year to date to $158,710, though the amount expended to date is $125,967. In addition, there have been $5,509.91 minor claims paid in FY 2009.
In FY 2008 the mayor budgeted for $108,710 in legal services, and the total appropriation at the end of the year was $260,024, or a 139% increase. Included in that figure were settlements of $8,930 for minor settlements and a settlement in the amount of $55,000 in relation to the Hilton Garden Inn lawsuits.
Could be I blinked and missed something. ;^)
