Request By:
Mr. Arson Moore
Bullitt County Judge/Executive
Shepherdsville, Kentucky 40165
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You wish to know whether the Bullitt Fiscal Court must strictly adhere to the number and compensation of deputy jailers, as stated in a fiscal court order of May 2, 1977. That order authorized three deputies at a salary not to exceed $8,400 per year and one matron not to exceed $1800 per year.
Question No. 1:
"Would it be legal to add or subtract from the number of deputies? "
Under KRS 71.060 any jailer may appoint not more than two deputies, and, with the approval of the county judge/executive, may appoint additional deputies. Any jailer may also appoint a matron. Ordinarily the fiscal court has the authority to determine the number of deputies of constitutional officers and their salaries. However, in
Funk v. Milliken, Ky., 317 S.W.2d 499 (1958) the court held that the fiscal court, in light of KRS 71.060, just cited, no longer has the authority to fix the number of deputies for the jailer.
KRS 64.530 provides in effect that the number of deputies of constitutional officers and their salaries must be fixed by fiscal court not later than the first Monday in May in the year of the election. The court, in Funk v. Milliken, above, interpreted this statute to mean that once the number of deputies and their salaries are fixed during the year of the election, they [the number of deputies and salaries] cannot be changed during the term. However, a subsequent amendment to KRS 64.530 [see subsection (4)], provides that the fiscal court may review the salaries of the deputies, upon the written request of the constitutional officer, and adjust the salaries, within the sound discretion of the fiscal court.
In summary, since three deputies and one matron were provided in the 1977 order, the number of deputies and the one matron cannot during the term be changed. In other words there can be no legal change in the number of those positions by either adding or subtracting.
Question No. 2:
"In computing the budget, are we mandated to allow only the compensation dictated by the May 2, 1977, order, neither greater nor smaller?"
Under KRS 64.530(4), upon the written request of the jailer, the fiscal court may review the deputy and matron salaries and adjust them [change them], within the sound discretion of the fiscal court, and assuming there is available money to fund an increase if granted.