I was prompted to investigate the allegations contained in recent articles and letters appearing in Malibu’s newspapers to the effect that the city is now paying to Christie Hogin’s firm approximately twice the amount of the compensation she was receiving prior to the date she discontinued as city attorney in June, 1999 and that according to an April 14 letter from the Malibu Township Council (“MTC”), the city attorney costs were greater under Hogin than under Steve Amerikaner, her predecessor.
The facts belie the allegations. Under Hogin’s new contract, her fees are approximately the same as the city paid for her department during her prior tenure, and clearly less than Amerikaner’s fees. Further, the city is protected against escalating fees based only on hours worked and hourly rates.
Prior to the cessation of her services, Hogin was an employee of the city and the city not only paid her a salary, but also paid for all of the expenses in her department, including, but not limited to, a paralegal and all the fringe benefits to which employees of the city are entitled. The cost to the city for the legal department (including Hogin’s salary) during her tenure, at or about the time of her termination, averaged approximately $210,000.00 a year, subject to changes in costs for employee benefits, etc., which usually trend upward.
Under the city’s new contract with Hogin’s firm, her services are rendered as an independent contractor at a fixed amount, not as an employee. She is responsible for compensating her own paralegal, as well as all other ordinary expenses and neither she nor any of her employees are entitled to fringe benefits from the city. The city’s cost for general legal services payable to Hogin will be $216,000.00 annually ($18,000.00 a month). Further, the city can terminate her contract at any time without cause on 30 days notice without penalty or termination pay. Hogin informs me that she averages between 120-150 hours a month in connection with her services. That equates to approximately $133.00 an hour, $63.00 an hour less than her predecessor’s hourly rate of $196.00 an hour.
As to the MTC allegation that “the annualized legal cost ($314,504.00)” . . . paid to Amerikaner “was about $233,516.00 less than the lowest fees incurred during the tenure of Christie Hogin” the method adopted by MTC to arrive at this conclusion and consequently the conclusion itself is incorrect. For the designated year, Hogin’s fees were calculated by MTC by adding to the fees paid for her department ($216,710.00), all other fees ($331,310.00) paid by the city to outside litigation counsel. MTC did not include any fees paid by the city to outside litigation counsel during the designated year in the fees attributable to Amerikaner. Consequently, the MTC “comparison” is totally distorted.
Using MTC’s own figures, an accurate comparison of the cost for city attorney’s fees discloses that Amerikaner received $314,500.00 for the designated year and the city paid $216,710.00 for Hogin’s department for the designated year, $97,794.00 less than was paid to Amerikaner. The difference in compensation for the attorneys is consistent with the difference in their hourly rates.
Nothing contained in this letter is intended to nor should it be construed to be in derogation of the former city attorney, Steve Amerikaner, for whom I have the highest personal and professional regard.
A. David Kagon