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Judge seeks hike: Employees deserve salary increase but comissioners must decide |
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Friday, 27 November 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
The Auglaize County Common Pleas judge requested his 2010 budget reflect an increase in employee salaries, but left it the same in his submittal, as he knew Auglaize County Commissioners would make the final decision.
“I put my requests down, but I don’t know what you’re going to allow,” Common Pleas Judge Frederick Pepple told the commissioners as he went over his proposed budget for next year. “I figured it didn’t matter what I put down, you folks would have to decide.
“All line items are the same, except salary, because I don’t know what that is going to be,” he said. “Frankly, whatever you give us we’ve got to deal with.”
Pepple said he based his salary requests, which commissioners do not have in writing, on the collective bargaining agreement.
He said he wrote down the same amount for salaries for this year as last year, but put in an extra column showing what employees would have gotten if they had received the same increases as those under the collective bargaining agreement.
“I thought it would be interesting to you to see the impact the decisions you are making have,” Pepple said.
He said he hoped he would be funded levelly on everything else.
“We never know about equipment expenses, we never know what kind of cases we’ll have, what kind of evaluations will be needed,” Pepple said. “Contract services vary year to year. We never know what may be coming in.”
Commissioner John Bergman told the judge he was glad to see they were holding their expenses in line.
The total budget request for Common Pleas Court was $246,633, essentially the same as this year, minus one additional pay period.
Included in the proposed budget is officials salary $8,390, employees salary $155,915 (the same as 2008), supplies $4,000, equipment $3,000, contract services $11,000, travel $3,000, other expenses $5,000, juror fees $22,000, witness fees $4,000, transcripts $750, and visiting judge $3,000.
Commissioner Doug Spencer said county employee salaries are still not decided for 2010, but they should be determined by the beginning of the year. He said the sooner they can figure them out, the better for everyone involved.
“I know you have your hands full and your work cut out for you,” Pepple said. “We do need some direction.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 30 November 2009 )
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