High pay for consultants under scrutiny by city

While the highest-paid employee on a city’s payroll is often the director of a specific department or the city manager, that is not the case in Maricopa.

The city of Maricopa in 2008 paid out more than $700,000 to three people, none of whom have a desk in City Hall.

Those three people and the money they were paid by the city are lawyer Denis Fitzgibbons ($394,660), senior economic consultant Ioanna Morfessis ($180,000) and airport consultant Ed Beauvais ($150,000). Both Fitzgibbons and Morfessis earned more than the highest city salary, and Beauvais’ pay was just short of surpassing the top spot.

The pay of these individuals has raised the brow of the City Council, which asked City Manager Kevin Evans to look into the possibility of phasing out the consultants or hiring staff members to take their positions.

“I am looking at the positions and will have the information at the (next) council meeting,” Evans said.

One of the more difficult values to examine is the money the city pays out to the law offices of Fitzgibbons. Most other cities employ a full-time legal staff, but the majorities of those cities also have a city court.

Two examples are Oro Valley and Casa Grande, which are both slightly larger than Maricopa. Both municipalities have full-time legal council on staff.

Casa Grande pays $294,078 on an annual basis for a three-person law operation that includes a city prosecutor, city attorney and an assistant attorney. Oro Valley employs a city attorney, prosecutor and paralegal for the combined costs of $269,601.

To get a true gauge of what each city pays for legal services, it may be necessary to add the wages of an administrative assistant to the totals. The average administrative assistant makes roughly $35,000.

Both of these cities also pay numerous court clerks, so the question becomes how much service does Maricopa need without having a city court.

However, the high billing cost that the city saw in 2008 may not approach that number in 2009.

“Barring any unforeseen circumstance, there is a high probability that our total cost for law services go down,” Evans said.

While the city’s decision on handling legal matters in-house may be difficult, dealing with the consultants may be a bit easier.

Morfessis has had the amount she receives from the city reduced from $15,000 a month to $10,000 a month in January and may have to scale back even further if she is to remain on board.

Senior full-time economic staff members in other cities tend to receive compensation of $70,000 to $80,000 a year; if used only in a part-time role, that number decreases.

It is difficult to compare Beauvais’ salary to those in other communities because his position of airport consultant is not as easy to define.

However, the highest-paid airport official in Casa Grande, an airport manager, makes $51,000 a year.

Evans will have a full report on these positions, including proposals by the two consultants on how they can cut back their services in an effort to continue serving the city while eliminating overhead.

If you go:

What: Maricopa City Council meeting
When: Tuesday; study session, 6 p.m, regular session, 7 p.m.
Where: 22560 N. Powers Parkway

File photo