Freeholders criticized for high legal expenses
BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - Despite recently adopted measures aimed at cutting legal expenses, several residents sounded off recently, complaining the county is still spending too much money on lawyers.

At the Oct. 12 Monmouth County Board of Freeholders meeting, members of the public criticized the freeholders for spending more on legal fees, not less, as was their aim for the year.

"What are you going to do about this? The people in this state are screaming for property tax [relief.] You're not serious enough about cutting costs," said Middletown resident Pat Walsh. "You haven't gotten it, guys."

In August, after a lengthy study aimed at removing politics from choosing the county's top lawyer, the all-Republican freeholder board voted 3-2 to rehire Malcolm Carton as the county counsel.

The move was criticized by the public.

Carton has held the post since 1985. He is a longtime Monmouth County Republican leader. No Democrat has served on the board of freeholders since the mid-1980s.

The measure also lowered the county's hourly rate structure for special attorneys and ceased providing health care coverage for the outside consultants. At the time of passage, Freeholder Lillian Burry said the overall savings to the county's $2.3 million legal budget would be about 10 percent.

On Oct. 12, Freeholder Robert Clifton, who earlier this year co-chaired the legal budget committee with Burry, said several other changes have been made to curtail spending, such as requiring county departments to seek freeholder approval before obtaining legal counsel.

Burry read a prepared statement, saying "legal fees are not self-producing."

"We began the year with a sincere attempt at lowering costs," Burry said, adding that by the end of the year, the board expects to find it spent less overall on legal costs.

"A less active county could spend less and be poorer for it," Burry concluded.

Freeholder Anna Little, who is running for election to retain her seat, said she has requested a copy of all recent legal bills.

"I will review this data," Little said, to see if more reform is necessary.

Little suggested that some legal fees, unavoidable ones, be considered a utility and written into the budget as a separate line item.

"Just some thought, as an attorney," Little said.

Little also mentioned that she hosted an economic summit last month, the purpose of which, she explained, was to begin a dialogue on how to increase economic development and share services in the county.

Freeholder Director Bill Barham talked about several areas where the board has saved money, such as a new partnership with GSF Energy to sell the methane gas produced at the county landfill , a deal Barham has said could save the county $400,000 a year to start and up to $1 million in later years.

"And the big caveat, we cut a deal with the city of Philadelphia," Barham said, regarding housing the city's excess prisoners at $90 each per day.

"If you want to sit there and argue with us about a legal bill, you can do that, but let's not forget the other side of the formula," Barham said.