The cost of the city’s legal bills for the ongoing firefighters’ contract dispute increased $110,000 during a recent three-month period and now exceeds $634,000.
City Comptroller James E. Mills on Friday confirmed that the law firm has billed $634,740.56 through January for costs associated with the nearly four-year labor dispute with the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191.
Union President Daniel Daugherty put the costs of the legal expenses at $110,000 for a three-month period between Nov. 1, 2017, and the end of January. That’s the latest set of bills that Terry O’Neil, the lawyer representing the city, has submitted; the Long Island labor and employment attorney has not charged the city for any legal work after Jan. 1.
Yet Mr. Daugherty warned the legal bills will keep on coming.
“That hill is getting higher,” he said. “They’re going to keep climbing.”