Request By:
Honorable John D. Sims
Robertson County Attorney
Mt. Olivet, Kentucky 41064
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
The Robertson County Jail has been closed. The Fiscal Court is permitting the Jailer to remain in the living quarters of the Jail for the remainder of his term without paying rent; but the Fiscal Court will not pay for his utilities. The Jailer believes such change (not paying his utility bill) violates the Constitution.
The Jailer is not required to live in the jail building. It is not now a jail, anyway. See KRS 71.020. His being given living quarters in the old jail building is simply a gratuity. It has no connection with his compensation. See KRS 441.009, relating to his salary, payable out of the jail budget part of the county budget. KRS 441.008. His salary may be adjusted upward, so long as it does not exceed the rubber dollar maximum for that year. See
Matthews v. Allen, Ky., 360 S.W.2d 135 (1962);
Commonwealth v. Hesch, Ky., 395 S.W.2d 362 (1965). The maximum payable to local constitutional officers in 1983 is $29,486.00. Any salary adjustment upward for a rising Consumer Price Index is merely a salary adjustment under § 246, Kentucky Constitution. A jailer's actual salary cannot be reduced during his term, since that has nothing to do with the Consumer Price Index concept. Such a reduction would be a change in compensation, as prohibited by §§ 161 and 235, Kentucky Constitution. However, the failure of the county to pay the jailer's utility bill has nothing to do with the jailer's compensation. Thus the Fiscal Court may legally discontinue paying this utility bill.
The second question is whether the jail matron is entitled to back pay to July 1, 1981.
Under KRS 71.060(2), any jailer may appoint a woman as matron to care for and have supervision over female prisoners. There is nothing in the statute suggesting that there must be female prisoners in the jail at the time of the original appointment. The jailer is required to use his sound judgment in making such appointment, based upon a reasonable expectancy of having female prisoners. It is commonly known that some women commit crimes as well as some men. Only the courts could determine whether he exceeded his discretion in making the original appointment. The Fiscal Court is required to establish salaries for deputies. See KRS 64.530. They established a salary for the matron for fiscal year 1982-83. Since the Fiscal Court did not set a salary for the period of time from the original appointment of January, 1981 to Jane 30, 1982, the Fiscal Court should provide a reasonable salary for such back period during which the wife actually served as matron, subject to the court's ruling as to whether her appointment was valid during the period in question in which the jail had no female prisoners.