By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — At its meeting on Oct. 22, the Independence Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a budget increase for legal fees and health insurance.
Rick Yaeger Budget and Operations Analyst presented the request to the board outlining the two budget amendments; an increase of $100,000 in the township’s legal account and an increase of $14,000 to the township’s health insurance account.
“The general legal account isn’t over budget yet but will be by year end and maybe even within the next couple of months. Charges to (Peter M.) Keenan (township ordinance enforcement attorney) are fine and on track to come in under budget but the Kelly Firm is about $12,000 over budget and that’s only through the month of July,” Yaeger said. “The overage comes from the various items that have come up since Jan. 1 and because of what I’m seeing here, we’re requesting a budget amendment of $100,000 to get us to the end of the year. You may not use it all but we need it to at least cover us and get us to that point.”
According to Yaeger, the initial budget for legal services for the year was $100,000.
“The total amount budgeted was $100,000 and now we’re at $112,000 when we’re just over half the year with the bills. That’s why I decided (we should) throw another $100,000 out there. Again, we might not use it, we might only use $60,000 of it but I don’t want to come back here in two more meetings and have to do it again or get to the point where the bills haven’t come in and we’re past Dec. 30 and we can’t amend. Then we’re going to be in trouble with the auditors,” Yaeger said.
Yaeger also provided a list of items that the township had paid attorneys to work on.
Because the township spent its entire year’s legal budget in just seven months, several board members expressed concern with Trustee Jim Tedder requesting additional information on what was customary in the past for the township to use its attorneys for.
“I just find it maybe troubling that we would hire legal counsel for this myriad of items,” Tedder said. “Is there a way to go back a few years and assemble something similar just so we have a frame of reference?”
Yaeger indicated that he could provide a similar list for the board at a later date. Yaeger also said that he is unsure if this is a one time issue or if the township should anticipate spending a similar amount in the future.
Additionally, within the Assessing Department, one employee moved from a buy-out in health insurance to a family plan. Without a budget amendment, this change would put the township’s health insurance account over-budget by the end of the year.