Request By:
Mr. Sam W. Moore II
Green County Attorney
P.O. Box 146
131 North Public Square
Greensburg, Kentucky 42743
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
As County Attorney for Green County you raise several questions about the compensation of elected county officials.
Question No. 1:
"Is an elected county official's compensation automatically increased or decreased each year in line with the Consumer Price Index?"
The answer is "no". KRS 64.527 merely provides for the determination of the maximum compensation payable to certain county officials under the rubber dollar principle. See
Matthews v. Allen, Ky., 360 S.W.2d 135 (1962) and
Commonwealth v. Hesch, Ky., 395 S.W.2d 362 (1965).
If the elected county official's compensation is to be increased, or decreased, each year in terms of the Consumer Price Index, the action of the fiscal court, authorizing a salary payable out of the county treasury, by way of an appropriate order, is necessary.
Question No. 2:
"May an elected county official's compensation be increased or decreased by approval of fiscal court each year in line with the Consumer Price Index?"
As we just indicated, the answer is "yes". When we speak of increasing or decreasing the compensation we are speaking of the salary that is to be paid the county official out of the county treasury. The statute only establishes the maximum compensation permissible.
Question No. 3:
"Does the answer to either question 1 or 2 depend upon whether or not the official is not making the maximum amount of compensation allowable, and if so, why?"
A county official, when considering any fees earned and collected and a salary paid out of the county treasury, cannot be compensated in excess of the maximum rubber dollar amount for the particular year. For example, suppose the county clerk is paid a salary out of the county treasury of $18,763.20 for the year 1978, then any fees the clerk would get would be excess to his or her compensation, since the $18,763.20 salary is the maximum compensation permissible under the rubber dollar for 1978. But the clerk can be paid a salary out of the county treasury in any amount not to exceed $18,763.20 for 1978.
Question No. 4:
"May a fiscal court increase a county official's compensation at any time it sees fit, providing said official is not already making the maximum amount of compensation allowable? "
So long as the fiscal court has not authorized a salary payable out of the county treasury to the county official for a sum equal to the rubber dollar maximum for that year, the fiscal court at anytime may enter an appropriate order increasing his salary out of the county treasury, so long as it does not exceed the annual rubber dollar maximum. See
Dennis v. Rich, Ky., 434 S.W.2d 632 (1968). The salary fixing power of fiscal court remains unexhausted until the rubber dollar maximum is reached.
In summary, while KRS 64.527 provides for an annual adjustment in connection with the Consumer Price Index and thus establishes an annual maximum compensation amount, it is not automatic. Thus, if there is to be any adjustment upward, where the new maximum rubber dollar amount permits, the fiscal court would have to enter an order expressly providing for an adjustment of the salary 1 to the new figure, so long as the new figure does not exceed the maximum rubber dollar amount authorized for the particular year. 2
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Payable out of the county treasury.
2 Where a fee officer makes the maximum in fees, then the maximum is automatic.