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Friday, November 04, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - "Allen County to revisit vote on salaries: Last-minute cuts stun many, ignite thorny legal issue" [Updated]

Updating this ILB entry from Oct. 21, 2011, where the ILB pointed out that a similar effort to cut a judge's salary in Grant County in 2007 has been rejected after a lawsuit, Vivian Sade of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today:

Allen County Council members have decided to revisit decisions made last month in which judges and magistrates faced salary cuts and sworn police officers were asked to double the contribution to their retirement funds.

Council members will vote Nov. 17 whether to rescind the two decisions made at its October meeting, said Council President Darren Vogt, R-3rd. * * *

“There is an opinion that there might be a legality issue with what the council did,” Vogt said.

Allen County judges, who receive the bulk of their pay from the state, would get a $5,000 annual cut in pay after council members voted to eliminate the county subsidies to their salaries. Magistrates also would be affected, with each taking a $4,000 hit to their salaries.

The state pays county judges $125,647 annually.

The cuts in the judges’ salaries – a decrease of about 3.9 percent – would have saved the county about $100,000, Vogt said. But the Indiana Constitution forbids cutting the pay of a Circuit Court judge in midterm.

In 2007, Grant County was ordered to pay $5,000, plus interest and costs, to a former judge whose pay was cut by the council.

Council members Roy Buskirk, R-at large, and Larry Brown, R-4th, initiated the discussion on increasing the retirement fund. Buskirk said the legal aspects were not discussed before taking a vote because the county does not have an attorney on staff.

“Several years ago, in an effort to cut expenses, we eliminated the county attorney fund,” Buskirk said. “There continue to be ongoing discussions with the judges and the sheriff’s department, and we hope to have the legal information we need at the next meeting.” [Emphasis added]

[Updated Nov. 6, 2011] A reader writes:
I'd like to clarify that Allen County and it's departments have access to a number of attorneys who are kept on retainer. It is true that the County Council previously eliminated funding to have its OWN attorney, however, the Council is able to seek advice from the County Attorney or the three Assistant County Attorneys (who are all paid out of the County Commissioner's budget) if it so chooses.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 4, 2011 11:37 AM
Posted to Indiana Government