Money For anybody in Oceanport who thinks talk is cheap, or that opposing the state law that enables Sea Bright to regionalize with the Henry Hudson Regional school district represents any savings for them, it is time to take a look at the cost of an attorney fighting Sea Bright’s wishes and efforts for the past three years. Money
Oceanport taxpayers should also consider that this is only one part of the legal fees they are paying; as part of the Shore Regional school district also opposing Sea Bright’s right to select its own regionalization, taxpayers are also paying the tens of thousands of dollars their attorney is charging for basically the same work.
What is most painful, especially for Sea Bright taxpayers, is Sea Bright, as part of those school districts now is also footing a portion of the high costs both Shore Regional and Oceanport attorneys are charging to keep them from joining the Henry Hudson regional district.
According to records VeniVidiScripto obtained under an OPRA request from the Oceanport Board of Education, Oceanport taxpayers have paid $116,347,30 since 2022 to the Machado Law Group for representing the district on the regionalization issue. That’s just one of the two boards of education attorney fees they pay; Shore Regional is not included in these figures.
That $116,347.30 is only through August of this year, it does not include any bills for September through November. Nor does it include the Machado law group fees for other legal work they also do for the school district.
That $116,347.30 amount is only a little over $27,000 less than taxpayers paid the firm for general services, which came in at $143,608.29. Legal fees for special education costs are relatively small, comparatively speaking. The law group was only paid $14,098.03 over three years for special education work.
However, it is difficult to see exactly what costs so much for the attorney opposing school regionalization for Sea Bright to join with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands. Most of the items on the bills, also secured through an OPRA request, are redacted.
So while a bill shows five telephone conferences between the attorney and someone else, for a total of $825 for that one month two years ago, there is no way of knowing who the ‘someone else, singular or plural, were. That is not open information even under OPRA. It is classified as “attorney-client privilege.”
Fifteen minutes, or $41.25, is apparently the least the attorney bills for. Each of the five calls is identified as 15 minutes long. at a cost of $825 for that one month, similar to many other months throughout following net two years.
But here’s a charge for every single call, be it for a minute or 15 minutes. That charge is $41.25, one-quarter of an hour. So any portion of 15 minutes gets the same rate. That makes the cost of a Machado law group lawyer staying on the phone for one minute $41.25, the same as if she were on 15 minutes.. IF she were on 16 minutes, well, of course the charge presumably then goes for for the next 15 section of the $165 rate, making a 16 minute call cost $82.50.
It’s the same with reviewing e-mails. Nowhere is it made known to whom or from whom the e-mails came. Only that they have been received and reviewed by the Machado Law firm. In that September 2022 bill, these reviews of e-mails from sources that remain unknown to taxpayers came to $2310.
One inch envelopes were mailed Federal Expressed seven times that month concerning regionalization, though it is not known to whom. But it cost taxpayers $157.95.
And so the charges go month after month, from September, 2022 to August 2024. In August of this year, however, with a monthly regionalization bill from the attorney of $5593.52 primarily for telephone calls, reviews, follow ups, research and correspondence, there is a lot more secrecy. Of eight pages of bills from the Machado Law Group to the Oceanport Board of Education for regionalization issues, according to the OPRA request, the last three pages all looked like this.
