Yetter said it was not known at the beginning of the year that such large legal items would pop up, “so we couldn't have budgeted for a lot of these items at the time.”

Through July, Yetter indicated the Township has accumulated around $48,000 in litigation fees related to the Mountain Creek proceeding alone. Litigation fees stemming from various other lawsuits has reached around $77,000 to date, she added. The total of the two far surpasses the $50,000 originally allocated for litigation in the 2017 budget.

Additional legal fees totaling around $60,000 have been incurred for tax appeals, Yetter said, also breaching the budgeted amount of $45,000. The IRS audit, which stretched back to 2006, cost the Township around $23,000, Yetter added.

Still, resident Sally Rinker criticized the council for the increase in legal spending, calling it unsustainable. Rinker noted legal fees 2015 amounted to a total $179,000 compared to 2017's original budgeted amount of $311,000.

Yetter told the council the emergency appropriation approved Tuesday will be marked as a deferred charge in next year's budget unless there are funds available for transfer from other budget line items.