WILKES-BARRE – A review of bills submitted by former solicitor Anthony Lupas to Wilkes-Barre Area School district shows that, while often giving detailed descriptions of his work, Lupas rarely provided dates the work was done, making it all but impossible to tell how many hours he billed on any given day.
The Times Leader reviewed copies of bills submitted for the last six months of 2011. A previous review of district records had shown payments to Lupas for legal work had risen six-fold in three years, soaring to $328,956 in 2011, despite the fact that Lupas suffered a serious fall late in the year and did little work in the last two months.
Lupas resigned his position as solicitor – a job he held for four decades – and is facing federal charges that he ran an investment scheme with unnamed co-conspirators, bilking people out of millions. The charges weren’t related to Lupas’ school district work, but federal agents did seek his district bills back through 2006. The school board has paid for a forensic audit of legal bills dating back that far and is expecting to learn results this month, possibly at the work session or regular meeting this Monday and Wednesday respectively.
The six months of bills reviewed by The Times Leader show that, along with his monthly retainer of $2,115, Lupas submitted 66 pages of bills dated from June 27 through Jan. 11, charging a total of $147,050 for 917 hours of work. District Business Manager Leonard Przywara noted that some bills may have been for work done earlier in the year. There were no bills dated for December.
Among the 66 pages of bills there were 917 itemized charges with some description of the work performed. Yet only 21 of those 917 itemized charges – a scant 2.3 percent – includes a date showing when the work was done.
Lupas billed the most hours – 191 – for work on a bus contract, charging a total of $26,100. The bulk of that was 164 hours at a total of $24,600 for intense negotiations that led to a last-minute contract approval Aug. 24, days before school started.
Board member Christine Katsock balked at the idea of voting for a 10-page, 4-year contract without a chance to read it, but other members argued there was no time to find an alternative.
Katsock then called for an internal review of previous years of transportation provided by the district from 2009 to the present. The board agreed, prompting more work by Lupas, and – according to the bills – a review of the freshly-approved contract and work clarifying the language in it.
The second biggest chunk of itemized work involved Kistler Elementary School. Lupas billed 163.5 hours at a cost of $21,825, almost all of which stemmed from problems with what the board considered as unsatisfactory work done on a new sidewalk guard rail and on the school boiler.
Work on tax appeals tallied up to 65.5 hours, the third biggest chunk of the six months of billing, adding up to $11,825. That work involved either researching assessment appeals to determine if the district should challenge them, or challenging assessments. The bills note that in several instances the district won appeals, increasing assessed value on large properties and thus increasing tax payments.
The high rate of billable hours from both Lupas and then-assistant solicitor Ray Wendolowski – combined, the two were paid more the an $500,000 in 2011 – prompted the school board to work out an agreement making Wendolowski solicitor for the current school year at a salary of $195,000 while dropping the post of assistant solicitor.
The price sparked sharp criticism from frequent board critic Bob Kadluboski, but the agreement requires Wendolowski to do almost all work requested by the board with no extra charges, except reverse tax appeals (seeking to get an assessed value increased). Wendolowski will do those on a contingency basis: If the appeal is successful he gets a percentage of the increase in tax revenue, otherwise he gets nothing.
In addition to solicitor and assistant solicitor costs, the district hired outside firms to handle special education cases, when a parent or guardian contends the district is not providing services required under state or federal law. Those cases almost always result in a settlement that includes the district paying the attorney fees incurred by the parent.
In the 2011-12 school year, Wilkes-Barre Area spent $14,774 for legal representation and another $15,500 for attorney fees. This year the district has $30,000 budgeted for special education cases. The district has another $25,000 budgeted for any other legal fees.
Mark Guydish can be reached at 829-7161.
