Opinion ID: 1387744
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Wayne County Clerk of County Commission

Text: The Clerk of the County Commission of Wayne County (the county clerk) requested $92,976.00 for compensation for the employees of his office for the fiscal year 1988-89, ending June 30, 1989, the same amount as appropriated for 1987-88. The County Commission of Wayne County (the county commission) appropriated $87,576.00 for compensation for the employees of the county clerk's office for the 1988-89 fiscal year. The $5,400.00 difference between the amount requested by the county clerk, which was the same amount as appropriated for 1987-88, and the amount appropriated by the county commission for 1988-89 represents the difference between the salary ($15,000.00) of a retired employee, the senior deputy clerk with twenty-three years of experience, and the salary ($9,600.00) of the specific employee hired, at entry level salary, to perform some, but not all, of the retired employee's duties. The remainder of the retired employee's duties were reassigned to and performed by other employees in the county clerk's office, with an adjustment by the county clerk increasing the total salaries of those employees by the $5,400.00 amount. The $5,400.00 reduction from the preceding year's budget amount was not part of any across-the-board reduction of all budget requests submitted by the county's constitutional officers; the county commission did not cut the budget request of any of the other such officers because the county commission, based upon recent experience, was expecting a revenue surplus over current expenses. There has been no shortage of funds available to the county commission during the year in question. The county commission did not consult with the county clerk prior to fixing the budget in order to ascertain the workload and operating needs of the county clerk's office. The workload of that office has been greater during the year in question than during the corresponding part of the preceding year.