By the numbers, a report to town council on July 20th by the Director of Legislative Services and Clerk Angie Cathrae, states the legal budget for this year is just under $250,000.
Spending to date is just over $412,000 and the town’s legal counsel anticipates costs for the remainder of the year to be over $1.76-million-dollars, limited to existing known cases only.
83% of the variance is directly related to land claim costs that were to be budgeted in 2022.
Mayor Janice Jackson says the legal fees that were approved for this year, “did not include the First Nation’s land claim. It was not scheduled to go to trial until next year but it’s going to trial this November.”
Jackson says the second item that hit the town was the judicial review over the safety work on parking along Lakeshore Boulevard.
She says that was almost $200,000 in legal fees to defend the town against that charge.
However, Mayor Jackson says staff and council will figure out a way to make sure the overage doesn’t “harm taxpayers.”
She says “We’re not interested in having a big tax increase next year.”