(La Porte, IN) - The LaPorte County Commissioners are taking the LaPorte County Auditor to court for refusing to pay an entire legal bill submitted by the county attorney.
The petition, seeking slightly more than $1,100 unpaid to the county attorney, was filed Thursday in LaPorte Superior Court 3 against Auditor Tim Stabosz.
The court filing alleges Stabosz violated state law by withholding payment on claims submitted by attorney Shaw Friedman after the commissioners approved them during a public meeting on August 18.
According to the petition, the unpaid amount is 10-percent of the total claim for services rendered from July 15 to August 15.
The petition was filed after the commissioners ordered Stabosz to pay the balance or face legal action on October 6. Insisting the law was on his side, Stabosz ignored the commissioner's order to pay their bill.
Now, Stabosz is vowing to defend in court what he feels is his legal and constitutional right as the auditor to solely verify claims since his office cuts the checks.
“My statutory authority is separate from the commissioners. They don’t get to order me to do anything,” Stabosz claims.
Stabosz said he has concerns about the unpaid claims from Friedman and wants to confirm the work was legitimate before releasing payment. He's' asked Friedman for more specifics on the billing statements, but Friedman has not provided him with information to his satisfaction.
The auditor has no legal authority to withhold payment, though, once the commissioners have approved claims, said Alan Sirinek, the attorney representing the commissioners in the legal dispute. Sirinek claims that Stabosz should have approached the commissioners to try and resolve his questions before the vote approving payment. Instead, the commissioners passed the vote to pay the county attorney fees unanimously without objection from the auditor.
“The statute is very clear. He shall release it once it’s been approved by the commission,” Sirinek said.
However, Stabosz said his ability to audit and decide payment is under no such boundary. After the commissioners approve a payment, he claims that the auditor may pay a claim under state law but is under no compulsion to pay it.
“It does not say 'must' [pay]. Otherwise, the auditor would be little more than a functional rubber stamp for the commissioners with regard to bill-paying,” Stabosz said.
Sirinek also said Stabosz should have gone to the commissioners to answer his questions about the billing statements. Sirinek claims that Friedman is under no obligation to provide Stabosz with additional information under attorney/client privilege since he works for the commissioners. Sirinek said the commissioners could have approached Friedman about the invoices and verified the claims for Stabosz since their powers include auditing invoices from service providers.
Jennifer Gouger, Chief of Staff for the Indiana State Board of Accounts, said county auditors have authority to review and pay or not pay claims based on the findings of their investigation. She said the commissioners also have the power to order payment of claims and pursue a court order, if necessary, to ensure payment. When there's a discrepancy, the courts can decide. Gouger said a judge would have to determine the matter because state law is unclear on who has ultimate authority.
Typically, she said commissioners and auditors work the system well together and, rarely, do things to reach this point.
“There’s a nice little system of checks and balances, but what happens when that gets out of alignment? That’s what’s unfolding in LaPorte,” she said.
Typically, Gouger said auditors with legal questions concerning payments needing paid seek advice from their county attorney. But, here, the county auditor does not want to pay the county attorney bill, leaving them on opposing sides. In addition, in February, Friedman filed a lawsuit in St. Joseph County alleging defamation of character against Stabosz.
Stabosz accused Friedman of running county government by having control over some of the elected officials. Friedman is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, which remains undecided.
