The Lebanon School District paid over $42,000 in legal fees to attorneys responsible for negotiating a resignation settlement with former superintendent Jim Robinson.

Garrett Hemann & Robertson, the district's chief legal counsel, billed the district $20,922 between Aug. 7 and Oct. 8 for its work on the buyout agreement. Another $16,253 was spent for “outside professional services” provided by the Portland law firm of Stoel Rives, LLP.

Ed Reeves, an attorney with Stoel Rives, was contracted at the request of the Lebanon School Board to work with Garret Hemann & Robertson in negotiating Robinson's departure as superintendent. The district also agreed to pay Robinson's attorney $5,352.

The $42,526 cost of the settlement brings the school district's total expenditure on legal fees to $89,906 for the 2008-09 year, which started July 1. That is $12,906 over the $77,000 budgeted for the year. District legal fees in 2007-08, also budgeted at $77,000, totaled $149,639.

By comparison, the Sweet Home School District, with about 2,400 students, spent $2,548 on legal services in 2007-08. The Greater Albany Public School district, with about 9,200 students, spent $160,000 on legal fees last year. The Lebanon district had 4,262 students enrolled as of Oct. 1.

Linda Darling, LCSD business manager, said the school board will evaluate the district's budget in the spring and redirect funds to areas where projections fell short. The money to cover overruns could come out of the contingency fund, Darling said.

Robinson resigned on Oct. 6 after 10 years as superintendent. The settlement agreement gave him about $400,000 in salary and benefits.