Politics & Government
Does The City Spend Too Much On Legal Fees?
A Los Angeles Times study finds that the city ranked high among the 88 incorporated cities in the county.
South Pas ranked 25 among 88 cities in Los Angeles County for the amount of money spent per capita on attorney fees, according to a study by the Los Angeles Times.
The ranking was contained in a database resulting from a one-year project by the Times as it investigated the effect of legal costs on city budgets.
The Times found that South Pas spent $26 per capita on city attorney's fees annually, a total of $662,164 or 2.2 percent of the city's budget on average for the years 2005 through 2010.
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For fiscal year 2011/12, the city budgeted $390,000 in legal fees,
Overall, attorneys' fees consume less than 1 percent of the 2010 budgets in nearly half the county’s cities, an average of about $25 per resident, says the Times report.
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But a handful of cities spend three to four times that much, the Times found.
La Canada Flintidge was No. 30, spending $24 per capita. Glendale spent $17 per capita, while San Marino spent $10, according to The Times database.
Check out the Times’ full database here.
Patch Asks: What do you think of the city’s legal fees? Is it spending too much?
Check back with Patch for commentary from city officials.
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