MAGISTRATES ALL SIGNED AGREEMENTS
This week’s Hamilton County magistrate overpayment kerfuffle reminds us of the title of a middling 1960s comedy film, “Who’s Minding the Store?”
A 2013 county commission vote that changed magistrates from accruing leave time to receiving use-it-or-lose-it time never seemed to have made it into the policy books.
That resulted in a total payment of more than $31,000 to four previous magistrates that wasn’t owed them.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said it was a paperwork slip but not under his purview since the magistrates are a commission-run program.
The magistrate in charge at the time, Randy Russell, told the Times Free Press “this is the first I’m hearing about it.”
County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said he doesn’t usually read emails and noted his office has nothing to do with magistrates’ pay.
No commissioner followed up at the time or raised a hand when accrued payments first were given to magistrates who fell under the policy change in 2017.
Human resources personnel and/or county finance personnel, who might have noted the important change the county made in leave accrual, apparently also were oblivious.
Next week, commissioners are expected to vote whether to let the four magistrates keep the wrongly accrued pay or return it.
For the record, we think the county ought to retrieve some or all of the money since each of the magistrates since 2013 — including Russell — signed an agreement for professional services with the county (available on the county website) that spelled out the benefits: “The Judicial Commissioner will have 10 days of paid leave per contract period. … The Judicial Commissioner will not accrue any other leave time. Leave time must be used within the contract period or forfeited.”
If, in fact, the changed policy was never given to human resources, the commission could offer an alternative resolution next week that asks the magistrates to repay only a portion of the money they were not due.
And since current magistrates are now reminded of the agreements they signed, we don’t believe whatever leave time they have accrued to date should be paid when they leave their positions (since that is the only time it is paid).
The public again can thank Commissioner Tim Boyd for raising a monetary issue. We believe the other commissioners don’t want to see taxpayer funds misused, either, but whether they don’t want to point the finger or speak without all the relevant facts, most of them don’t seem as willing as Boyd to voice such concerns.
We accept the explanation of the overpayment being a paperwork slip, but we believe this is why commissioners and everyone in county government who deals with our money must be diligent, must communicate, and must check and recheck their work to make sure we as citizens are getting our money’s worth.