COUNTYWIDE : Compromise Voted on Court Salaries

The Board of Supervisors approved a last-minute compromise Wednesday, resolving a salary dispute with court administrators that had threatened to block $30 million from the state for the county, including $12 million for the financially strapped court system.

Under the agreement signed Wednesday, 10 top municipal court administrators--whose salaries range from $47,000 to $69,000--will receive about a 9.3% pay raise this year. Also, the five chief clerks for each of the municipal courts will receive a $522-a-month car allowance, and a few of the lowest-paid deputy clerks will receive slightly higher pay increases, ranging up to 11.3%.

Part of the the raise went into effect June 30, when all county employees received a 4.3% cost-of-living increase. The remainder of the raise will be retroactive to June 30. The car allowance, however, will not take effect until July.

On Tuesday, County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish had told the board that his negotiations with court officials had reached an impasse, but Presiding Municipal Judge Robert E. Thomas said Wednesday that court and county negotiating positions had been closer than first thought.

Thomas, board Chairman Thomas F. Riley and Supervisor Don R. Roth worked out the compromise in a private meeting Tuesday. It was approved by the board Wednesday.

Thomas said: “It became apparent that the position of the board and the judges were the same. . . . The board wanted to extend equal treatment to our department heads.

“In the past, certain department heads in the county were granted benefits, and our department heads were not,” said Thomas, referring to the car allowance for chief clerks.

The agreement was the last hurdle for the county to clear to claim $30 million in block grant funds from the state, including $12 million to operate county courts. The county is eligible for the money under a new program created by the Trial Courts Funding Act, set up to bail out financially strapped court systems in the state.