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Finance director: solicitor bills may drive Coventry legal budget $500,000 over
Summary
Finance Director Bob Sovetti told the council that the town’s solicitor/legal-services line could run roughly $500,000 over budget this year, driven in part by ongoing litigation; residents urged greater invoice transparency and budget controls.
Coventry’s finance director told the Town Council Monday that legal spending is the key driver of a projected year-end budget overrun of roughly $500,000 if current trends continue.
Bob Sovetti summarized the town’s first-quarter financial statements and said the solicitor/legal-services department is the single department projected to exceed its budget by more than 5 percent under Resolution 2025-46. “If we continue to trend the way we're currently trending, that line item will be approximately $500,000 over budget,” Sovetti said.
Residents raised concerns about the pace and scale of legal invoices. Britney Boyer, a resident, said she had seen emails and invoices that suggested quick approvals and questioned whether the town should pay a recently arrived $25,000 invoice without deeper review. “The level of legal expenditure is simply unsustainable,” Boyer said, noting hourly rates cited in public comment and urging the council to consider caps or other spending controls.
Sovetti responded that his email exchange reminding officials about an invoice-due date referred to invoices the council had already received earlier in the month and that the newly received $25,000 invoice was unrelated to the Angel Law matter. He said some variance comes from the timing of receipts and that the town continues to reconcile incoming bills daily.
Sovetti also reported on ARPA and impact-fee balances: the town had obligated approximately $10.0 million in ARPA funds, paid roughly $8.0 million to date and had about $1.7 million still open; the impact-fee fund had about $1.1 million available as of Sept. 30, 2025.
Next steps: council members asked staff to continue monthly monitoring of high-risk line items and to provide clearer breakdowns for the DPW and solicitor budgets. No budget adjustments were made at the meeting.
