When it comes to the pay hike requested by the Fredonia village law firm, Webster Szanyi, no news is perhaps good news.

“Three or four months ago, our attorneys requested an increase in pay and I had asked if we could push that off until the next fiscal year,” Fredonia Trustee Jon Espersen asked at a recent workshop. “Have they gotten back to us?”

“We did not get an answer on that,” village Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau replied.

Espersen inquired if the law firm has increased its billing rate and LeBeau said it has not.

Webster Szanyi is a Buffalo law firm that took over the village’s legal representation in January 2021. The firm charged in 2021 more than triple what previous attorney Daniel Gard charged in 2020, though some officials said the firm had far more work in 2021 than Gard did in 2020. The fees have fallen somewhat from the more than $200,000 charged in 2021, but still surpass what Gard charged.

Until earlier this year, Webster Szanyi almost always sent a lawyer to attend Board of Trustees meetings, whether in person or remotely via Zoom. That has fallen by the wayside in recent months.

The firm’s highest-profile action for Village Hall this year was probably losing the lawsuit filed by residents to overturn a Dec. 26 resolution that put Fredonia on a path toward buying water from Dunkirk. State Supreme Court Judge Grace Hanlon affirmed the lawsuit and overturned the resolution.