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I consider the difference between an hourly value for the services I am <br />rendering and the retainer amount to be my investment in a client that I <br />enjoy working for very much. ! am not asking the Council to raise the <br />retainer amount to $5,000.00 or $6,000.00 per month. However, I would <br />appreciate the Council considering the change in the nature of the services <br />being provided since the $1,650.00 amount was established, and raising the <br />retainer amount closer to approximately one-half of the average hourly value <br />of services rendered over the past two years (somewhere in the $2,500.00 to <br />$3,000.00 per month range). <br /> <br />Hourly Rates. The city currently pays a reduced hourly rate, with a <br />$110.00 per hour maximum, for legal services rendered on separate files for <br />which payment will be made from city funds. Files for which the city will be <br />reimbursed by third parties are billed at normal hourly rates, with a $180.00 <br />per hour maximum. Once again, I believe this structure was established by <br />Bob Middaugh. The theory behind the structure is that private parties <br />should pay at the same rates they would pay if the city attorney were <br />working directly for the third party. <br /> <br />From my perspective, my goal is to realize approximately seventy (70%) <br />percent of normal rates on the hourly work which I do for the city. The thirty <br />(30%) percent discount is, in my view, justified by the fact that the city is a <br />long time client which has a perfect payment record. By charging third <br />parties the rates they would pay if payment was not going through the city, <br />we have been able to keep the city's hourly rate even below the seventy (70%) <br />percent goal. <br /> <br />If the city were to go to a single hourly rate, in order to achieve my goal of <br />seventy (70%) percent of normal rates, the hourly rate would have to be an <br />across-the-board $135.00 per hour. This would be the hourly rate for all legal <br />services provided on all files. This rate is at the bottom of the hourly rates <br />charged by my present firm to other public sector clients. <br /> <br />There are, of course, any one of a number of options between the current <br />$110.00/$180.00 split rates and an across-the-board $135.00 rate. I would be <br />happy to come up with other split rates, or discuss with the Council other <br />alternatives. One idea I have heard suggested is that the city try the $135.00 <br />across-the-board rate for a year to see what the impact is. I have no <br />preference between the existing split rates or a $135.00 rate, as long as I <br />have an opportunity to achieve somewhere close to seventy (70%) percent of <br />normal hourly rates. <br /> <br />s: \councilkctyatfee.doc <br /> <br /> <br />