(This article first appeared in Broad + Liberty)
Delaware County spent $4.69 million on outside attorneys in 2024, according to an analysis of documents obtained via Right to Know request — more than eleven times higher than 2019, the last full year that category of spending was under Republican control. The 2024 figure is a record high for outside counsel spending, surpassing the previous record set in 2023.
The total shows that while the rate of increase in that category has leveled out, there are as yet no signs that the county intends to lower that spending so that it would be more commensurate with earlier years or with what neighboring counties spend.
Additionally, the increase in outside spending has not resulted in any interior savings. According to the county’s 2024 budget, the line-item for the county solicitor’s office has skyrocketed from $1.64 million in 2020 to $3.99 million in 2024 — a 143 percent increase.
This latest fact lands as the county is just four months away from its first county council election in the wake of a massive 24 percent tax increase levied on residents in December of last year that set off waves of public complaints. The 24 percent tax increase followed a five percent tax increase just one year earlier.
Those tensions were on display recently when Councilwoman Christine Reuther voted no on purchasing new electroshock weapons for the county’s park police. “I feel very stressed about voting no but … I’m going to feel stressed about laying people off or cutting benefits or cutting services,” Reuther said earlier this month.
The data show the extent to which the county’s spending on outside attorneys is an outlier the last three years compared to its neighbors in the southeast. For example, just the last two years of this spending by Delaware County — $9.2 million — totals more than Montgomery County (a larger and more populous county) spent in all five years from 2019 to 2023, about $7.9 million.
Top biller of the roughly three dozen attorneys or firms receiving this business in 2024 was Eastburn & Gray, a firm with offices in Doylestown, Bethlehem, and Blue Bell. The firm’s billing total for 2024 was more than what Bucks County spent on all outside attorneys in 2023.
Billings for Ballard Spahr dropped slightly from 2023 to 2024, but the firm remains a point of controversy for county Republicans.
As Democrats campaigned for county council seats in the years before they eventually garnered key wins in 2020, they frequently alleged citizens paid a “corruption tax” because of business given to local allies.
Republicans have turned the tables on those complaints recently by pointing to Ballard, a firm with longstanding ties to County Councilwoman Christine Reuther and Controller JoAnne Phillips.
Those claims have extra traction after a Broad + Liberty report last November — right in the middle of the tax increase uproar — showing the county turned away from the Delaware Valley Regional Finance Authority for a bond issuance in 2024, a move that cost the county an additional $2.1 million, according to an analysis by the DVRFA.
Ballard Spahr oversaw the bond issuance for fees of $71,305, according to documents obtained from the county. At the time, the county did not give an in-depth explanation of its choice except to say that “ financial markets are extremely complicated” and that financial experts advised “that seeking funding on the open market was the most prudent course of action.”
The county did not respond to requests for comment for this article about the legal spending in general, or about the relationship between council members like Reuther and Ballard’s billing. Ballard Spahr also did not respond to a request for comment.
Controller Phillips, who is running for a county council seat this November, said the question of whether the third-party attorney spending was an appropriate use of taxpayer funds was a question more appropriate for the five-member council.
“I defer to [county council] management on this question,” Phillips said. “However, appropriate legal representation is necessary to protect the county’s interests and there have been significant legal proceedings involving the county since 2019. In addition, it is my understanding that attorneys who worked part time but who received benefits (i.e., health, pension, etc.) were dismissed by the county in 2020.”
Phillips further explained that Ballard’s work should not be considered a conflict of interest on her behalf given that all decisions to contract with the firm were not under her jurisdiction.
“I have no conflict as I have not been nor am I responsible for retaining counsel or making any decision regarding legal representation for the county,” Phillips said. “Being independent, the controller has its own solicitor as authorized by law. My affiliation with the firm has been disclosed throughout my term. I earned no compensation as a result of any work of the firm.”
Phillips wasn’t neutral on the issue, however. She said creating some transparency methods around the hiring of outside counsel could streamline the process and minimize perceived conflicts.
“With respect to conflicts, the changes made to the County administrative code since 2020 regarding ethics and disclosure requirements have improved the procurement process and made the process far more transparent,” Phillips continued. “I would recommend creation of a pre-approved list and a periodic review of approved firms to open the opportunity for others to be added and called upon, if needed.”
In 2019, Ballard Spahr hosted a fundraiser for Christine Reuther during her campaign for County Council, according to an archived version of her campaign website.
Getting below the surface to understand the nature of all the work can be difficult, if not impossible, without the county’s willingness to comment. Previously, when this outlet has obtained letters of engagement between the county and outside firms, the scope or purpose of the engagement has been redacted by the county, as shown in the image below.
In 2023, County Solicitor William Martin explained some of the 2022 spending.
“Many of the items from past years remain active. The litigation to block Aqua’s sweetheart takeover of DELCORA continues, with the litigation proceeding on multiple fronts in the PUC, Commonwealth Court and Common Pleas court,” Martin said at the time. “The litigation related to the multiple abuse cases brought by former residents of the Juvenile Detention Center continues. All of these cases are triggered by events which occurred prior to the time when the current County Council took office.”
Certainly the expansion of the county’s total role in recent years has added to the strain.
The Democrats who campaigned for council seats in 2017 and 2019 and then into the early years of this decade promised to create a county health department as well as to deprivatize the county prison, which had previously been privately run for almost 30 years.
After winning a majority, they delivered on those promises, but many residents are left wondering if the changes were worth the expense, especially after the mammoth 24 percent tax increase last year. The increase was a stunning reversal on pledges to keep taxes level from council members like Brian Madden.
For example, as Broad + Liberty previously reported, In 2021, the prison’s total bill for outside legal help was $125,375. By 2024, that bill climbed to $967,598.
Additionally, the county is facing a slew of lawsuits for issues related to the prison. When the George W. Hill Correctional Facility was privately run, the county was largely indemnified from liability.