The politically split council decided Feb. 13, with a vote of 4-2, to hold off on paying bills owed to attorney Paul Kaufman and grant writer Remington and Vernick. The town already faces a lawsuit filed by the ousted grant writing firm.

"This is ridiculous, we’re heading straight into a lawsuit," said Democratic Council member Patrick Marana. "These people should’ve been paid two months ago."

But Republicans defended the decision until the newly appointed borough attorney reviews all the bills. The Democrats, they said, are merely playing political hardball.

The borough owes $155,531 for legal services from Kaufman and more than $358,000 in site remediation and planning work from Remington, confirmed finance administrator Diane Frohlich.

For violating a contract, the borough fired Remington last December for subcontracting work without consent from local officials. The firm filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter, requesting payment for all its services and additional administrative fees, according to Republican Council member Scott Furletti.

Democratic Mayor John Hogan urged the Council to pay Remington for all except its grant-writing billing, totaling $30,000. The money, he said, to pay Remington for remediation work is already there – in the form of a $306,528 state grant.

He said that the firm would "just be happy to be paid," also suggesting that the firm may drop the lawsuit if compensated for most of its work.

"What we’re facing now is that if this grant is not taken care of we’re going [to] be in violation of the state," cautioned the mayor. "Besides being fined, if they can’t close out the work they’ve done so the new environmental engineer can step in, it’s going to jeopardize future grants."

The Republicans fired back, saying that the Democrats are blowing political smoke. They pointed to ELEC records to prove it.

According to reports, Kaufman contributed a total of $65,000 in various Democratic political campaigns. Remington has donated $23,000 to Democrats since 2005.

"It could easily be why there’s so much pressure from them [Democrats]," said Furletti.

Funds from the state grant did not become available until the end of December, although the town received grant notice in October 2007. The new borough attorney, who was hired at the same meeting, has to review all the bills before taking action, said Furletti.

Republicans believe that the hike in Kaufman’s fees results from lawsuits following a political agenda and a duplication of services. Planning Board decisions handled by Kaufman, even though the Board has its own attorney, is one such example, said Furletti.

Negotiations are now underway between Kaufman and Council President Lloyd Winans in order to strike a deal with "some kind of relief." Winans had predicted that the borough attorney would demand a large sum in bills, asking the borough attorney at past council meetings to provide copies of his legal fees.

Furletti said, "Kaufman’s going to cost the borough this year more than all the professionals involved."

The borough attorney hired in 2006, Dwight de Stefan, charged $26,000 for the whole year, said Furletti.

But Hogan said that the blame falls on the handful of lawsuits the firm has had to wrestle, listing the Rooney vs. Carlomagno and tax appeals cases.

"This is work that they did, authorized by the governing body to do, and expects to be compensated for," said the mayor. "If Winans felt [anything] was improper, I think he should’ve brought that up at this point."