DATE: May 3, 2022
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Amendment to Master Schedule of Fees - Section 600
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Conduct first hearing to amend the Master Schedule of Fees, Charges and Recovered Costs Ordinance by amending Section 600 - County Counsel, Subsection 601 - Legal Services ($159 per hour for each attorney); waive reading of the Ordinance in its entirety and set the second hearing for May 17, 2022;
2. Designate County Counsel to prepare a fair and adequate summary of the proposed Ordinance; and
3. Direct the Clerk of the Board to post and publish the required summary in accordance with Government Code, Section 25124(b)(1).
REPORT
Your Board's approval of the recommended actions will set a second hearing to enable your Board to amend County Counsel's existing fee in the Master Schedule of Fees, Charges, and Recovered Costs (MSF) based on actual County Counsel costs, to be $159 per hour for each attorney, effective June 16, 2022. The fee is charged to departments with third-party funding and all other public agencies to which County Counsel provides legal services. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may choose not to amend the MSF Ordinance and direct County Counsel attorneys to use the current fee of $150 per hour for each attorney or propose an alternate fee that may not recover 100% of departmental attorney costs. As well, your Board may direct County Counsel to further review its costs and return to your Board with an alternate tiered fee structure based on each attorney classification. If your Board wishes to entertain a tiered fee structure, County Counsel recommends that your Board approve the recommended actions so that County Counsel may recover its cost increases addressed in this item, as time would be needed for County Counsel to develop such an alternate tiered fee structure.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost ass...
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