Parramatta Council spent $11m on legal expenses since 2022
A major western Sydney council has spent $11m of ratepayers’ money in legal fees over the past three years, including a case against one of its councillors in the NSW Supreme Court.
Parramatta Council has spent $11.7m of ratepayers’ money in legal fees since 2022.
The information was tabled in Parramatta’s business papers following a request from Councillor Kellie Darley.
The independent councillor sought to ascertain figures following the organisation’s decision to invest in in-house legal services to reduce its reliance on external law firms and costs.
The legal expenses included employee costs, contractors and consultants.
The most spent was in the 2022-23 financial year with $4.9m.
More questions are expected to be asked about the results during the November council meeting.
Cr Darley also sought to find out which law firms the council had engaged since July 2022 and the total of each invoice received.
The response was only available in confidential papers for the councillors at its meeting last week.
The council forecast a $3.2m budget for “legal services expenditure” in the 2025-26 financial year.
A portion of the expenses were for the council’s fight against Cr Darley, who scored a major win against the council in the NSW Supreme Court in August when her censure for criticising its $1.1m deal with the Eels NRL club was quashed.
Parramatta Council has filed a notice of intention to appeal the decision.
In response to the $11m legal expenses, a council spokesman said: “Council’s operational costs, including expenditure on legal services, reflect the significant growth and volume of projects and developments occurring across the local government area.’’
At Parramatta, Cr Darley also successfully requested financial information be made available monthly instead of quarterly to the public so it had confidence that councillors and council staff were managing council’s budget appropriately.
The council’s corporate and property services director Brett Smith committed to monthly financial reporting rather than quarterly statements.
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Originally published as Parramatta Council spent $11m on legal expenses since 2022
