Request By:
Mr. Robert M. White
Adair County Clerk
Columbia, Kentucky 42728
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
On January 11, 1983, the Adair Fiscal Court voted to grant your deputy county clerks a seven percent (7%) salary increase, pursuant to KRS 64.530, payable out of the fees of your office. At the same meeting, salary increases were authorized for ambulance employees and jail employees, payable out of budgeted county funds.
At a meeting of the fiscal court on January 19, 1983, the salary increases mentioned above were rescinded, with the stipulation that increases would be given first consideration in the 1983-84 county budget.
At a meeting of May 3, 1983, the fiscal court voted to grant a five percent (5%) salary increase for the deputy county clerks and ambulance employees, effective July 1, 1983.
Your question is whether the fiscal court properly responded to your original request in writing for a salary increase for your deputy county clerks.
KRS 64.530(4) explicitly provides that the salaries of the deputies of local constitutional officers, which includes the deputies of the county clerk, may be adjusted by the fiscal court upon the written request of the the constitutional officer. The subsection further states that the adjustment action may be taken not later than the first Monday in May of any year after the election year and during term.
The fiscal court chose to meet on May 3, 1983, which was the next day after the first Monday in May. The deputy county clerks' salaries may be funded in one of three ways: (1) from the fees of the clerk's office; (2) from the county treasury; (3) from both (1) and (2). In your situation the salaries are paid from the fees of your office. Thus the first Monday in May deadline is directory only. Even where the salaries are funded from the county treasury, the deadline for the annual review of salary adjustment in KRS 64.530 serves no basic purpose, except that the strict observance of the deadline would occur prior to the county judge's submission of the proposed budget to the fiscal court by May 24. KRS 68.240. The county budget must be adopted by July 1 of each year. KRS 68.260. In many counties the budget may contain enough money to fund deputy raises without making the calculation after a raise is asked for. Where there is substantial compliance with KRS 64.530 so as to effectuate its purpose, the provision of deadline for salary adjustment must be deemed directory only. See
Webster County v. Vaughn, Ky., 365 S.W.2d 109 (1963) 111.
Thus we conclude that the fiscal court order of May 3, 1983, was in substantial compliance with KRS 64.530.
Secondly, the fiscal court's reasoning in the order of January 19, 1983, rescinding the seven percent (7%) increase in the salaries of your deputies, was erroneous. Since your deputies' salaries are funded out of the fees of your office, the role of the fiscal court in evaluating a request for a salary increase must only be based upon sound reasoning in terms of their duties, work performance, and general economic considerations as to purchasing power of the dollar. They cannot base it upon the budget, since the deputies are not paid out of the county treasury. They cannot act arbitrarily in considering a raise. Section 2, Ky. Const. The county gets any excess fees of your office, at the end of each calendar year, after you have taken out money for your compensation, the compensation of your deputies, and for other necessary expenses of your office.
Funk v. Milliken, Ky., 317 S.W.2d 499 (1958).
There was nothing wrong in the fiscal court's considering other salary raises when your deputies' raises were being considered.
CONCLUSION
The salary adjustment of your deputies' salaries of May 3, 1983, was proper and valid, with five percent (5%) increases effective July 1, 1983. We assume your fees are adequate to fund the salaries at the increased level.