People have asked me several questions concerning our litigation defense spending, such as: "How are we doing with this year's budget numbers? Did we budget enough to cover this year's expenses? Will we need to budget for litigation again next year? If so, how much? When will it stop?"
I can't answer that last question but I do have some information on the others.
We have discussed this during several commission meetings and in our recent budget workshop with regard to methods to pay these expenses and the financial impact on services the city provides our residents. We finally received some ROUGH ESTIMATES from our city attorney as to what we might expect.
Keeping in mind the word ROUGH, here are those estimates for St Pete Beach litigation expenses (expenses above and beyond the normal ordinance research and drafting, resolution research and drafts, consultation with staff and elected officials).
These number should be noted to be estimates of litigation costs for the main cases facing the city but do not include a few less active issues as it is unknown if and how they will be pursued.
It should also be noted that these estimates, like many estimates, may suffer from inaccuracy due to timing, or magnitude, or both, as it is not known when the courts will rule, or how, and we do not know how active opposing counsel will be.
As of the end of February (5 months) we had spent about $168,000 of the amount ($200,000) we have in the budget this fiscal year.
Here is the estimated spending for the remainder of this fiscal year which ends 30 September 2010:
$45,000 Pyle ( ballot case)
$15,000 Kadura ( referendum case)
$5,000 Metz
$5,000 Sowa
$10,000 Woods
$10,000 Chmielewski v City
Total: $90,000 additional
2009-2010 fiscal budget: $200,000; YTD actual plus estimate: $258,000. $58,000 OVER budget. Just about the amount ($50,000) we, the commission, discussed adding to this year's budget but failed to do.
For the next fiscal year; begins 1 October 2010:
$55,000 Pyle ballot case ( includes an appeal)
$70,000 Kadura referendum case ( includes an appeal)
$35,000 Kadura public records case (includes an appeal)
$35,000 Chmielewski
$15,000 Sowa
$15,000 Kadura McCormick
Total: $225,000
Fiscal Year 2007-2008 actual: $198,345
Fiscal Year 2008-2009 actual: $298,421
Fiscal Year 2009-2010 estimate: $258,000
Fiscal Year 2010-2011 estimate: $225,000
Total $979,766 assuming no new lawsuits.
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