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[ChickenCityRoller]

3/30/2008 11:00:00 AM


It Pays To Be County Attorney
Shaw Friedman proud of bang local government gets for its buck

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - Working as the La Porte County attorney can be rewarding.

According to county payment records, La Porte attorney Shaw Friedman and Friedman & Associates received $124,047 for handling county legal matters in 2007. That's $24,600 more than the $99,450 annual salary for Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer, who is the county's highest paid full-time employee.

Friedman is hired on a contractual basis and is the highest-paid La Porte County attorney. He gets a modest monthly retainer of $250, but the bulk of his pay comes from legal services billed at $100 an hour.

Friedman says he's proud of his track record on behalf of the county.

"We consistently go up against big city firms that charge three times what we're charging," Friedman said. "We are in federal and state courts, and will take a case to trial if it's in the county's interest, or recommend a settlement."

Friedman's billing records for 2007 show numerous charges for work on property assessment and tax-appeal issues involving Assessor Carol McDaniel, Nexus, Michigan Township Assessor Terry Beckinger, property owner Bill Wendt and the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.

Friedman's other charges pertain to regional economic development initiatives, intermodal issues and the intermodal task force, regulation of outdoor wood boilers and development of a regional sewer district, to name a few.

While at one time each Indiana county had one contracted attorney to conduct all county business, the number of attorneys with county contracts has expanded. Each attorney also has a private practice in addition to working for the county.

Most recently, McDaniel hired La Porte attorney Bill Hedge to work on behalf of the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals for $1,000 per month. On Monday, she will ask the County Council to boost his pay to $3,200 a month for April through June because of the volume of appeals.

Besides Friedman, county commissioners contract with Attorney Robert Szilagyi for about $24,000 a year to develop ordinances and attend commission meetings. He bills separately for time spent on other matters.

Don Baugher, attorney for the County Council, receives $16,800 a year for his legal services, and says he doesn't bill beyond that amount.

Baugher has served as the commissioners' attorney several times, and said the commission requires the most legal services.

"The commission is the executive of the county," Baugher said. "If the county gets sued, the commission gets sued. If the county enters into a contract, the commission enters into the contract."

Friedman compared La Porte County to a $70 million corporation.

"Like any corporation, there's going to be lawsuits," he said, "and we continue having to pay for them."

County Commissioners President Bill Hager, D-Michigan City, said the commission asks for $100,000 in its annual budget to cover legal fees. The County Council must approve the commissioners' requests during July budget hearings.

County Councilman Jerry Cooley, D-La Porte, said, "We always cut it a bit, but if they run short we have to give them more money. Attorney fees are something we look at as a beast we don't like to have, but need."

Attorneys Friedman and Szilagyi collect additional money for claims filed with Swanson & Swanson, the county's insurance agency. County Auditor Teresa Shuter says those payments come from funds that are separate from county department budgets.

A total of $52,015 of Friedman's 2007 billings came from Swanson & Swanson claims. About $20,500 of that amount was for work on a county lawsuit filed against NIPSCO. Shuter said the county received an award of $105,000 from the Indiana Utility Ratepayer Trust following Friedman's work on the case.

Baugher objects to paying county attorneys from sources outside government budgets.

"I strongly believe that lawyers ought to get paid, but if you're working for a public agency, you should get paid for work you actually do," Baugher said. "It should be a public account. It can't be run through the back door, through an insurance company."

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Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.