San Benito County’s rising $2.5 million spent on private lawyers
since April 2000 significantly exceeds a sampling of other small
counties in California.
San Benito County’s rising $2.5 million spent on private lawyers since April 2000 significantly exceeds a sampling of other small counties in California.
And while such litigation persists, county officials anticipate a likelihood this summer of severe budget cuts, a deficit and potentially decreased public services.
County Administrator Terrence May said he’s preparing an initial report – which he’ll present to the Board of Supervisors on April 27 – outlining such possibilities for the fiscal year starting in July.
The Board, with the county’s gloomy fiscal outlook, may have to consider less spending on outside lawyers in future years.
Two incoming Board members, Don Marcus and Jaime De La Cruz, both said they plan to closely watch such expenditures.
“It doesn’t make fiscal sense,” De La Cruz said.
County officials said many cases demand expertise, or that the office’s head lawyer and three deputies may have had full plates. With regional growth pressures, San Benito County – population 57,000 – has faced an increase in costly litigation in recent years, according to County Counsel Karen Forcum.
One case – involving a mining company claiming a right to mine its San Benito River property – cost the county $1.4 million since April 2000 in fees, according to documents released Friday. In the past year alone, that case cost more than $250,000.
Compared with other counties of fewer than 100,000 residents, San Benito has shelled out relatively big bucks for private firms’ representation.
Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Sutter and Yuba all range from populations of 45,000 to 81,000 residents. None of them spent as much as San Benito, according to officials in those jurisdictions.
They say those counties have kept costs down by limiting use of private lawyers to cases demanding expertise of involved subjects. It is unclear whether San Benito has been facing considerably more litigation than other small counties.
Siskiyou County Counsel Frank DeMarco said he only requests private lawyers for “extraordinary expertise” – and for no other reasons.
That county spent less than $10,000 on private lawyers last year, he said. Though the amounts, he said, vary from year to year.
“That would be pretty extraordinary if in any one year I spent over $100,000,” said DeMarco, who represents a county of about 45,000 people.
Sutter County Counsel Larry Combs said his county has faced an unusual string of “pretty big lawsuits” the past couple years.
Sutter County – with a population of 81,000 – normally budgets about $30,000 a year for lawyers’ fees. But three major civil cases within the past two years have cost $517,000, according to Assistant Administrator Curt Coad.
“That’s a lot for us,” he said.
Other like-size counties’ payments to lawyers include: Yuba County spending “probably $20,000” last year, according to Auditor Dean Sellers, and Tuolumne County spending “about a couple hundred thousand” dollars, according to County Counsel Greg Oliver.
Monterey County Counsel Charles McKee said he pursues outside help on an “ad hoc basis” when expertise is necessary.
Monterey spent an average of $1.4 million each of the past two years on private lawyers, McKee said. But that county has more than seven times the population of San Benito.
Monterey, like San Benito, is facing burdensome budget times now – and even worse ahead.
“We in Monterey County, because of the budget, are trying to bring that work in house,” McKee said.
District Attorney John Sarsfield, formerly a deputy district attorney in Monterey, called the rising costs of governments’ private lawyers “an unfortunate byproduct” of a more litigious nation.
“It’s just a normal course of business, unfortunately, that the government gets involved in litigation,” Sarsfield said.
He suggested, however, that more potential court parties pursue arbitration. That involves an impartial mediator – precluding the often expensive court process – determining a judgment.
De La Cruz, who’s awaiting results of investigations of his District 5 victory, said he would push for staffing advancements to the County Counsel’s Office – rather than approving more outside spending.
He suggested hiring a legal consultant, if needed, to advise the office on complex matters.
“If our legal staff needs re-tooling, re-education, by all means, let’s assist them,” De La Cruz said.
Among other residents, government watchdog Dennis Madigan has been criticizing the county for its private legal spending. He even suggested last week the Board may have not publicly reported its hiring of private lawyers.
Forcum said the Board properly reported out of closed session each time.
“In this office,” Forcum said, “I’m very mindful of the Brown Act.”
