Request By:
Mr. David H. Bland
Executive Director
Kentucky Jailers Association
McCowans Ferry Road
Versailles, Kentucky 40383
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
There are certain questions relative to the compensation of county jailers, about which you request our opinion. The questions read:
1. If a jailer funds his salary totally from the fees he receives from the state, can the fiscal court place a limit on his salary less than the statutory maximum?
2. If a jailer's salary is a combination of a payment made to him by the county for janitoral services and the state fees, can a fiscal court limit his salary less than the statutory maximum?
3. Can a jailer's salary be limited by the fiscal court at less than the statutory maximum in a county of 75,000 population, if the jail is not refunding excess fees to the fiscal court?
The $7200 monetary level of § 246, Constitution, applies, inter alia, to the county jailers, pursuant to KRS 64.527. Under the current C.P.I. calculation (see OAG 82-80), the 1982 potential maximum compensation for county jailers is $28,387.00 per year. However, the final salary, under that potential maximum, will depend upon: (a) The fees generated by that office (principally dieting fees under KRS 64.150) and (b) salary money authorized by fiscal court order to be paid out of the county treasury. Thus the combination of (a) and (b) cannot exceed for 1982 the sum of $28,387.00. The fiscal court has no control over the amount of actual fees which can be applied to the jailer's compensation. The control device in that area is simply KRS 64.527 and the annually computed C.P.I. maximum. The fiscal court, however, does have a sound discretion as to the amount of money to be derived from the county treasury to be applied to the jailer's compensation.
The answer to question no. 2 is again "no". As we said, fiscal court can only control money paid out of the county treasury to be applied to the jailer's compensation.
As concerns question no. 3, while KRS 64.345 controls the compensation to jailers in counties having a population of 75,000 or more to the extent that the jailer's compensation must be taken out of the "75% account" in the state treasury (all the jailer's fees are turned into the state for administration), the general law of KRS 64.527 governs as to county jailers. That statute is geared to the annual compensation of the Consumer Price Index adjustment.
Thus the fiscal court, in counties of 75,000 or more population, cannot prevent the state's applying money out of the jailer's "75% account" to the jailer's compensation. The maximum established for the particular year under the indexing (C.P.I.) of KRS 64.527, however, must be observed. But there the state and jailer are observing the statute, KRS 64.527, and not a fiscal court order.