Request By:
Mr. Morris Lowe
Commonwealth's Attorney
Eighth Judicial District
1032 College Street
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your recent letter concerning the pay of secretaries of commonwealth's attorneys.
Your specific question is: What commonwealth's attorneys are eligible to receive the secretarial compensation and discretionary allowance at present and in 1978?
In counties of 200,000 population or over, the commonwealth's attorney shall appoint six stenographers for terms of four years. KRS 69.100. In counties containing a city of the second class, the commonwealth's attorney may appoint a stenographer for a term of four years. KRS 69.105.
Thus, under current law, the commonwealth's attorneys in counties having no first or second class city or a population of 200,000 or over have no authority to appoint a secretary.
Effective January 1, 1978, H.B. 17 [Ch. 17, Sections 26 and 27, 1976 Extraordinary Session] amends KRS 69.100 and 69.105 by deleting those provisions relating to appointment of stenographers by commonwealth's attorneys. The two statutes as amended do mention stenographers of commonwealth's attorneys.
Under Section 13(1), (2) and (4) of H.B. 17, effective January 1, 1977, each commonwealth's attorney shall, during the calendar year 1977 and through June 30, 1978, be entitled to the number of secretaries "which he had or was entitled to at the number and salary level in effect on December 1, 1976." (Emphasis added). Subsection (2) of Section 13 provides that the number of secretaries shall be based on real need to be determined with the advice and consent of the prosecutors advisory council. Subsection (4) of Section 13 provides that all salaries paid to such personnel shall be paid from the state treasury.
The answer to your question is that at present and through June 30, 1978, only those commonwealth's attorneys in counties containing a first or second class city are entitled to a secretary. Within this period the commonwealth's attorney in Russellville is not entitled to a secretary, such that talking about any allowance for that secretary is academic.
After June 30, 1978, the number of secretaries for any of the commonwealth's attorneys in Kentucky will be determined with the advice and consent of the P.A.C. The salaries for the secretaries will be based upon guidelines established by P.A.C., which guidelines must be comparable with the classification and compensation plan for comparable positions maintained by the State Department of Personnel, pursuant to KRS 64.640. In the state budget for 1976-77 and 1977-78 [H.B. 30, Ch. 27, Part I (General Fund) Item 10 (County Costs), 1976 Extraordinary Session], we find this language: "All expenditures concerning commonwealth's attorneys and county attorneys will continue to be administered by the Executive Department for Finance and Administration while policy determination and decisions relating to discretionary funds [increases over existing salary levels] will be made by the prosecutors advisory council. " (Emphasis added).
The problem you raise about allowances to part-time [those in counties not containing a first or second class city] secretaries based upon official work time allocation is, under our conclusion above, academic.
Note that the permissible funding of stenographers of commonwealth's attorneys, where the stenographers are authorized by statute, under KRS 64.518 and 64.520, can continue until January 1, 1978, as per H.B. 17, [Ch. 17, Section 52, 1976 Extraordinary Session].