On first two readings Monday, the New Albany City Council approved hiring a full-time attorney at a cost of $40,000 annually.

The ordinance still faces a decisive third reading, though it passed 6-2. Councilmen Steve Price and Pat McLaughlin voted against the measure, and Councilman Jeff Gahan was absent.

Price’s reasoning for voting no was tied to last week’s report that the city should raise its sewer rates by 70 percent immediately to address debt obligations and revenue shortfalls.

Adding another administrative position encumbers the city’s finances even more, Price said.

“Sooner or later, somebody has to take a stand,” Price said. “You’ve got to quit this spending. You’ve got to reign it in.”

Councilman Bob Caesar used the sewer illustration as evidence of why the position is needed. The council would have more knowledge of city operations with a full-time attorney investigating budgets and attending board meetings, he said.

“A full-time attorney for this council is just exactly what we need to prevent things like this from happening,” said Caesar, who authored the legislation.

“Somebody that’s full-time can be on top of a lot more information.”

The council has been without an attorney since November. Legal counsel has been based on a part-time scale, with the position paying $14,000.

Additionally, the council budgeted $11,000 for legal expenses beyond the part-time attorney slot last year. Caesar said in all, the council spent $21,000 for legal representation last year.

City Attorney Shane Gibson is full-time and is paid $150,000 a year. While Gibson has advised the council on some legal matters in the interim, typically the city attorney does not represent the council.

Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede said he’s wary of the city’s financial condition, but added $40,000 a year for a lawyer is a bargain and that a full-time attorney will strengthen ordinances.

“It’s long overdue for the New Albany City Council,” he said.

Discussion by the council over the recent news of sewer hikes was pretty limited Monday, as Council President John Gonder addressed the topic at the start of the meeting.

He said since there’s no vote on sewer rates scheduled for the council at this time, it should delay talking about the situation. Councilwoman Diane McCartin-Benedetti said she preferred to wait until the Sewer Board votes on the suggested increase before the council begins deliberating the issue.

In responding to a question from Councilman Dan Coffey about whether public safety budget talks should be delayed until the sewer situation is addressed, Deputy Mayor Carl Malysz said the rates have been “a crisis in the making for several years” because the council did not pass or slashed suggested rate increases.



Also at the meeting

The council unanimously passed on final reading an ordinance to revamp New Albany’s speeding ticket system to keep the majority of the dues with the city.

Currently only about $4 of a speeding fine goes back to city funds.

A request to allocate $2 million of Economic Development Income Tax money for the public safety departments has been tabled until Feb. 18, so the council did not take a final vote on the ordinance after defeating it on first two readings.

The reason for the delay is to give the administration a chance to lay-out its case for the request. Police and fire budgets would be boosted with $1.5 million of the EDIT appropriation, funding that would keep the departments on pace to meet their anticipated expenditures for 2010.

The remaining $500,000 would be used to hire five new police officers. The council passed EDIT funding for the new cops last year, but the money ended up being used to cover the police budget shortfall.

A public meeting scheduled for Saturday between the council and the administration on the EDIT request has been pushed back until 5 p.m. Monday at the request of the council.