Elmhurst Budgets Nearly $900K For Lawyers

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst is budgeting nearly $900,000 for lawyers next year, and that apparently concerns at least a couple of aldermen.

Aldermen Noel Talluto and Mike Brennan are proposing the city's finance committee review legal spending.

"A portion of the city's legal work can be considered routine such as drafting ordinances and resolutions to compliance training and other matters," the aldermen said in a memo. "Given these points, it seems appropriate to review the way the city obtains and performs legal services with the goal of continuing to provide the city with quality legal services at a lower cost."

Elmhurst's main law firm is Rosemont-based Storino, Ramello & Durkin. In January, the City Council unanimously voted to increase the law firm's payments to $195 an hour, up from $175. The firm has handled the city's legal work since 2009.

At the last council meeting, Talluto said the city's budget for next year was unacceptable and that the city was on the path toward higher taxes and fees. She promised to present ideas to the council soon to reverse that course.