Gov't
Central’s Legal Defense Budget Lacking
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By Dave Freneaux
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting Council Member Ralph Washington made it clear that Central’s budget for general legal support and defense will be limited to $30,000. That budget will likely be exhausted by Christmas, leaving the City without funding for any legal advice or defense.
Central’s legal fees budget was $85,000 in 2011-2012 and was proposed to be $85,000 for 2012-2013. However, Council Members Washington, Messina and LoBue voted 3-2 to slash that funding at the last minute in the budget approval process in June. They stated that they needed 60 days to study the issue and that they were funding the budget for two months only. Four months have passed, no formal study has been done, and that temporary budget is on pace to be spent by December. No effort has been made to provide funding for the remaining six months through June of 2013.
With no money in that budget item the City of Central would be unable to obtain legal advice on contracts and proposed ordinances and would have no funding to defend the city against lawsuits.
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