Legal Salaries, Benefits Top $780,000

BROOKSVILLE - In a review of the county's legal office, Hernando Today found that taxpayers are spending about $782,000 in salaries and benefits for five attorneys and four support staffers.
In addition, Hernando Today has learned that one attorney - Kent Weissinger - is being paid 100 percent through the utilities department, a fact that took at least two county commissioners by surprise.
County Commissioner Rose Rocco said a county as large as Hernando needs five attorneys who are multi-skilled.
Rocco said the county has been hit hard recently by scandals in the Emergency Management Department and allegations of racial harassment in the utilities department.
"They are busy," Rocco said. "It's not like they're sitting there doing nothing."
Rocco said she wasn't aware Weissinger's salary was coming out of the utilities department.
County Commissioner David Russell said he learned only Tuesday that Weissinger was being paid through utilities.
Russell also said the legal department's budget - along with other departments - will be closely scrutinized as budget hearings approach.

What They Make

Hernando County has five full-time attorneys, headed by Garth Coller, who - adding in health insurance, worker's compensation and other benefits - makes $169,565 a year.
The county also gives Coller gas mileage of about $3,600 a year.
According to the budget office, here are the budgeted salaries with benefits of the other county attorneys and staff:
Assistant County Attorney Kent Weissinger, $115,878; Jeff Kirk, $92,045; Jon Jouben, $86,007; and Erica Moore, $84,601.
Coller's staff also includes: Sue Bishop, legal administrator, $77,998; Irene Tencza, legal assistant, $53,140; Phyllis Villardi, legal administrative secretary (1), $50,310; and Pam Hejduk, legal administrative secretary (2), $49,123.
The overall budget for the county legal department has increased 9.1 percent in the last three years: from $672,904 in 2005 to $734,327 in 2008. The number is higher than the budgeted salaries and benefits because Weissinger is funded through the utilities department. The county has also spent money on outside attorneys.
For example, about $6,000 has been paid out to F. Wallace Pope Jr., an attorney specialized in class-action lawsuits. Pope is on standby in case the county gets sued from the ongoing cleanup of the contaminated former public works compound in Brooksville.
The county this year also hired the Tampa law firm of Glenn, Rassmussen, Fogarty & Hooker to look into allegations of racial harassment directed toward some employees of the utilities department.
That bill hasn't come in yet, but it's not expected to exceed $5,000.

Why Utilities?

Weissinger's salary is 100 percent paid for through the county's utilities department. It does not show up in the legal office's budget for 2007-08.
Budget Director George Zoettlein said county commissioners agreed to Weissinger's salary arrangement about five years ago when Hernando County took over Florida Water Services.
The county debated hiring a full-time attorney to handle the increased work load necessitated by the acquisition.
Instead, they opted to assign Weissinger to handle the department, Zoettlein said.
Such "cost-splitting" isn't uncommon, said Zoettlein, whose own salary comes out of two different pots: risk management and the budget department because he supervises both.
Coller said the utilities department is Weissinger's primary assignment. While he does not maintain log sheets to show how much time Weissinger devotes to that department, Coller said it is well over 50 percent.

Who Does What?

Coller said he assigns his attorneys to cases that best showcase their skills. For example, Jouben is the office litigator and handles Human Resources issues; Kirk handles planning and real estate; Moore, recently hired, is still in training; Weissinger is skilled in contract law and research.
Coller, in addition to being the principal attorney dealing with business related to his clients - the county commissioners - specializes in land use issues.
Coller also stressed that he tries to shuffle the work load around to reduce staleness.
For example, Weissinger may be the principal attorney dealing with utilities, but that doesn't preclude his other staffers from handling cases related to that department, he said.

More Attorneys

Three constitutional officers make use of a private attorney because the county's lawyers are not specialized in certain areas.
Property Appraiser Alvin Mazourek said he employs the legal firm of Wood and Stuart, based in New Smyrna Beach, because of their expertise in the tax field.
Circuit Court Clerk Karen Nicolai's attorney is the Hogan Law Firm of Brooksville.
Sheriff Richard Nugent also has his own attorney: Janet Anderson.
Tax Collector Juanita Sikes said she doesn't employ a full-time private attorney and uses the county's lawyers for the most part.
However, Sikes said she will occasionally hire a private attorney for those times when she needs someone skilled in a certain specialty, such as bankruptcy law.

Stacking Up

How does Hernando County, which has a population of about 166,000, stack up to other county legal offices?
Citrus County, which has a population of about 138,000, has one attorney, two assistant attorneys, one legal assistant, one legal secretary and has a budget of $589,517. This year, Citrus County paid out about $250,000 to outside legal firms.
Pasco County, which has a population of about 497,000, has one county attorney, nine assistant attorneys and a vacant chief assistant attorney slot. The county's support staff, which includes one open executive administrative assistant, numbers 11 people.
The total budget for the Pasco County Legal Department for 2007-08 is $1.7 million, of which $166,420 is budgeted for contracted private legal services. About $50,000 has gone out for outside legal help this year, according to the Pasco County legal office.