In a January 30, 2024 email to me, Belfast City Manager Erin Herbig said the City of Belfast has, since September 2021, spent at least $121,058 on legal bills related to Nordic Aquafarms. And that's just on litigation — in other words, on defending the $500 million Nordic behemoth from the City's own citizens.

So, since September 2021, the city has spent at least $48,000 per year, at least $4,000 a month, on Nordic-related legal bills. This for a project that was supposed to be a tax bonanza for Belfast.

But it gets worse. In her January 30 email, Herbig said: "Other Nordic issues have been addressed within the regular monthly retainer to the City Attorney."

So, the overall Nordic-related legal bill since September 2021 is presumably more than $121,058. But according to the City of Belfast, we may never know the overall figure, because the city doesn't require its attorney, Kristin Collins of the Preti Flaherty law firm in Augusta, to break down her time spent by subject matter.

In recent years, the City of Belfast has struggled to make ends meet, while its legal bills have more than doubled, which begs the question: is it competent management for a struggling entity to not examine a budget line that has more than doubled?

Answer: no.

It's possible Nordic has been reimbursing the city for some or all of these bills, but we may never know that either, as my January 18, January 25, and January 30 emails to Belfast City Manager Erin Herbig have all gone unanswered on this point. If Nordic has in fact been paying those bills, one would think the city would want that public. But then again, precious little of the city's Nordic dealings makes any sense.

Lawrence Reichard lives in Belfast