NJ State Comptroller Looking Hard into Lawyer Payments by Local Authorities

The New Jersey State Comptroller's office released a report on Tuesday that underscored curious payments made to lawyers by local authorities. At least in one case, that of the town of North Bergen paying a lawyer for more than 20 years without anyone being sure of his duties, the comptroller may be launching a criminal probe. Tips from sources led the NJ comptroller's office to do in-depth reviews of legal expenses made by three local governments and two school boards.

According to a spokesman of the town of North Bergen, the lawyer has resigned, and a county investigation decided there was no wrongdoing. The officials asked the Hudson County prosecutor's office to look into the matter and the prosecutor's office informed them that it had closed the case without filing any charges.

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Though the report of the state comptroller's office did not individually name any lawyers, it mentioned that one lawyer had been on the town payroll for more than 20 years without any specific duties since 2006. However, the lawyer, who is a major donor to local political groups, was paid a total sum of $45,000 in 2012 ($19,000 salary + $26,000 bonus) for apparently doing nothing and continuing to do so. According to media reports, local officials claimed ignorance about the lawyer being on the town payroll.

The NJ comptroller's office also found that North Bergen has 10 part-time lawyers on payroll, while the top in-house lawyer received a salary of more than $200,000 a year. The comptroller's report also mentioned that the top in-house lawyer provided legal work to an outside firm with which he has a financial relationship.

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The salary of the top in-house lawyer of North Bergen raised eyebrows because it is higher than that of the state attorney general.

In the case of a school board, the Plainfield Board of Education, the comptroller's office found an attorney billing a lawyer's rate of $150 per hour for work that should have been performed by an administrative secretary. Work of the attorney included details like receiving messages and taking copies of documents.