Case Name: William F. Vodde v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant; Mario M. Bentino v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant; Richard E. Powers, Ralph E. Shuster, Robert E. Kennelly, John O. Ingles, Theodore J. Babin, Hymen Morwitz and Jack Zinaman v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant
Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1978-01-24
Citations: 33 Pa. Commw. 342
Docket Number: Appeals, Nos. 9, 10 and 11 C.D. 1977
Parties: William F. Vodde v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant. Mario M. Bentino v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant. Richard E. Powers, Ralph E. Shuster, Robert E. Kennelly, John O. Ingles, Theodore J. Babin, Hymen Morwitz and Jack Zinaman v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant.
Judges: before President Judge Bowman and Judges Crtimlish, Jr., Wilkinson, Jr., Rogers and Blatt.
Reporter: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Reports
Volume: 33
Pages: 342–344

Head Matter:
William F. Vodde v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant. Mario M. Bentino v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant. Richard E. Powers, Ralph E. Shuster, Robert E. Kennelly, John O. Ingles, Theodore J. Babin, Hymen Morwitz and Jack Zinaman v. Retirement Board of Allegheny County, Appellant.
Argued November 2, 1977,
before President Judge Bowman and Judges Crtimlish, Jr., Wilkinson, Jr., Rogers and Blatt.
Anthony J. Martin, with him Martin and Finnegan, for appellant.
David B. Gashman, with him Franklyn E. Gonflenti, and Cauley, Birsic £ Conflenti, for appellees;
January 24, 1978:

Opinion:
Opinion by
Judge Blatt,
The Retirement Board of Allegheny County (Board) has appealed from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County which held that Court Stenographers' transcript fees were to be included as "compensation" for retirement benefits determination.
The Appellees, William F. Vodde, Mario M. Dentino, Richard E. Powers, Ralph E. Shuster, Robert E. Kennelly, John O. Ingles, Theodore J. Babin, Hymen Morwitz and Jack Zinaman instituted and consolidated actions in mandamus to compel the Board to include county transcript and folio fees in computing their contributions to the county retirement fund.
The Employes' Retirement System Act provides that :
The retirement allowance paid under the provisions of this article shall equal fifty per centum of the amount which would constitute the average monthly compensation as received by the county employe. . . .
Act of July 28, 1953, P.L. 723, as amended, 16 P.S. §4712(a).
Appellees argue and the lower court held that "average monthly compensation" includes both court stenographer's salary and transcript folio fees as decided by the Supreme Court in Rockwell v. York County Retirement Board, 405 Pa. 406, 175 A.2d 831 (1961). This Court recently followed Rockwell, supra, and held that the term "compensation" does include fees as well as court stenographer's salary and we, therefore, affirm the decision of the lower court. See Joseph H. Newhouse v. Board of Pensions and Retirement of the City of Philadelphia, 33 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 81, A.2d (1977).
Order
And Now, this 24th day of January, 1978, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in the above-captioned matter is affirmed.