Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors’ scrutiny over its legal representation continued Tuesday when the costs incurred by its contracted law firms were presented.
Outside counsel expenditures were budgeted at $5,451,500, or 0.007 percent of the district’s overall budget of $733,327,100 for 2012, said Joanna Smith, assistant IID counsel.
In terms of costs associated with the water department, $3,145,000 was budgeted for outside legal representation of the water department, whose budget for 2012 was $156,645,800.
“Some of these amounts seem exorbitant,” Director Norma Sierra Galindo said.
“Outside counsel is budgeted at less than 1 percent of the overall budget,” Smith said.
The lion’s share of that budget went to the law firm of Allen Matkins, for whom $1,475,000 was budgeted between the water department and energy department, and paid $1,986,907.27 for work performed between the two departments. The firm, for whom attorney David Osias works, is handling the litigation associated with the Quantification Settlement Agreement as well as a host of lawsuits brought against the district by a number of prominent Valley farmers.
“The outside counsel budget is distributed between the water department and the energy department,” Smith said, noting that some attorneys and law firms do work for both departments.
Responding to Galindo’s concern that some of the fees charged seem exorbitant, Smith said the law firms in question submit itemized invoices for their work, and that those invoices are available for directors to review.
Speaking after the meeting, Director Jim Hanks said that the Board of Directors will meet in closed session Thursday with the representatives of the law firm Allen Matkins to review its work.
Staff Writer Antoine Abou-Diwan can be reached at 760-337-3454 or aabou-diwan@ivpressonline.com
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
