Armidale Regional Council has sought a court assessment on "excessive" legal costs it has been ordered to repay.
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The Express can confirm the legal fees owed to the councillors comes to $344,233.74 and the council will need to cover its own legal costs in the case on top of that.
Council has concerns that these are excessive in nature and is seeking a court assessment.
- ARC spokeswoman
Both parties were ordered to pay the legal fees of councillors Debra O'Brien, Dorothy Robinson, Jon Galletly, Ian Tiley and Margaret O'Connor in the case and have refused to disclose the amount of ratepayer dollars that will need to be spent by ARC.
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"Council will be seeking clarification on whether the costs are reasonable or not," a spokeswoman for the council said.
"Council has concerns that these are excessive in nature and is seeking a court assessment."
The waste of taxpayer dollars has angered the community, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said.
"The split will be a matter for the first applicant to sort out with Susan Law, that's a matter for the council," he said.
Since the court case, all of the councillors have been suspended for three months without pay and interim-administrator Viv May was appointed.
It prompted several resignations by councillors including mayor Simon Murray and deputy Libby Martin, as well as Brad Widders.
That leaves seven suspended councillors after Diane Gray resigned in early June.