Circuit Court rules in favor of fiscal court

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February 12, 2009

By GINA KINSLOW The Glasgow Daily Times Thu Feb 12, 2009, 01:42 PM CST

TOMPKINSVILLE — The Monroe Circuit Court has ruled in favor of the Monroe Fiscal Court in a civil lawsuit filed by the Monroe County County Clerk.

The judgement states the county clerk’s budget must be approved by the fiscal court, fiscal court has the power to set the maximum salary of the county clerk’s deputy clerks and can determine how much the county clerk can spend on an annual basis.

Monroe County Clerk Teresa Sheffield filed suit against the Monroe Fiscal Court when the court failed to approve her 2007-08 budget, which included a $30,000 increase in her salary cap.

“She submitted (a budget last year), but she did not submit one that the fiscal court could approve,” Judge-Executive Wilbur Graves said.

The fiscal court discussed the budget during an open meeting which Monroe County Sheriff Jerry “Slick” Gee attended. According to Graves, Gee asked if magistrates were going to grant Sheffield a $30,000 increase in her salary cap then he wanted the same thing. Magistrates had already approved Gee’s budget and granted him a $2,000 increase in his salary cap.

“We just felt like ($30,000) was just too much,” Graves said. “I think we did give her a $2,000 (increase) the same we gave the sheriff.”

Sheffield is not happy with the court ruling.

“The decision is very contradictory,” she said.

Sheffield said she only requested a $25,000 increase in her salary cap and that she did so in order to hire an additional person to handle paperwork dealing with the licensing and registration of rebuilt vehicles. Monroe County ranks second in the state for having the highest number of rebuilt vehicles.

When she spoke to Graves in 2007 about hiring an additional person, Sheffield said he initially told her he was OK with it. The $25,000 would have also covered a pay increase for Sheffield’s deputy clerks; something she said they had not received in three years.

The $25,000 comes from $60,610.19 collected by the county clerk through a trust fund maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and is an unrestricted revenue supplement for operations of the office related to the collection and administration of road fund taxes to county clerks in counties containing a population of 20,000 as determined by decennial census and for no other purpose, according to KRS 186.040 (6). The judgment states the $60,610.19 is to be used by the county clerk’s office for statutory duties and that they should be budgeted accordingly.

“I put part of it in for deputies salaries (and) part of it was going to be for supplies, filing cabinets and desks for the offices,” Sheffield said. “I did exactly what the KRS says.”

Sheffield said she made three attempts to get her budget approved by the fiscal court. When they failed to do so, Graves prepared one for Sheffield and sent it to state officials for approval.

Graves said he consulted state finance officers about the matter and was instructed by them to prepare a budget for Sheffield and send it in.

“We can’t get the county’s budget approved until the county clerk’s budget is approved. They approved it. Once hers was approved we could get the county’s budget approved. All of this is governed under statute,” he said.

Sheffield doesn’t think the matter has been totally resolved.

“We are in the process of an appeal already,” she said.

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