Politics & Government

Attorney Says Fees Are Comparable to Former Borough Attorney's

Mark Semerarao said legal line item is higher due to pending litigation.

Bloomingdale Borough Attorney Mark Semeraro defended himself and the borough's legal line item amount during a council meeting Tuesday after several members of the public questioned the increased amount over last year's budgeted figure. Semeraro argued that his fees are comparable to those of former borough attorney Joe McMahon's.

After Jennifer Altfield, a former councilwoman and Bloomingdale resident, questioned the increase, which , Semeraro said that the budgeted amount for legal in 2011 is increased due to pending litigation and arbitration.

According to Council President Linda Huntley, the legal line item amounts in previous years were almost consistently over $100,000 each year, and much higher than has been discussed at previous meetings. Huntley said that in 2010, the legal line item was for $89,140; in 2009, $111,800; in 2008, $141,800; in 2007, $170,000; and in 2006, $137,000, including arbitration and litigation. Huntley said the difference between last year's legal line item and the budgeted line item for 2011 is $75,860 and not the $125,000 that has been discussed by the public.

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But Bloomingdale Chief Financial Officer Donna Mollineaux said the amounts McMahon was paid were lower in previous years that what is budgeted for this year.

According to Mollineaux, in 2010, the total amount paid was $79,443; in 2009, $74,684; in 2008, $66,123; in 2007, $67,613; and in 2006, $89,312. Mollineaux said that all of these amounts are all-inclusive and made up of salary and contractual figures.

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"Yes, more money may have been spent in the legal line item but not all of it went to Joe. There were others involved with litigation. Right now, we’ve received over $50,000 to date for MacManimon and Scotland/Mark Semeraro for legal expenses.  Even without police arbitration, if you annualize the numbers, we will certainly exceed what was paid to a borough attorney in previous years," she said.

Mollineaux also said that, "The amount that was finally agreed up from our current attorney to budget was $165,000 which included $60,000 in the salary line item.  My understanding was that additional litigation that may/could occur was not included in this number."


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