News

Bureau County clerk sues County Board

Posted November 05, 2007 10:00 pm

Ann Weeks

The Bureau County Board is being sued over budget cuts it approved last month - by one of its own departments, with the county's top prosecutor acting on that department's behalf.

Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus filed a complaint last week asking the court to declare her portion of the county budget invalid and order the county board to give her the amount she originally requested.

"Since it is a court case, I cannot comment on this, but I will say the board left me no choice on what I needed to do," Hieronymus said Monday.

According to court documents, Hieronymus requested $181,236 for the 2007-08 fiscal year, which begins Dec. 1, but the county cut that amount to $163,236. The $18,000 difference was part of $157,000 in total cuts the board approved last month to keep the county out of debt.

County Board member Dale Anderson, chairman of the fees and salaries committee, said at the time that the county's lack of revenue forced it to cut expenses. No raises or overtime were in the budget, either.

For Hieronymus, the cut meant losing one employee and cutting the wages of another, which she alleges in court papers makes it impossible to run her office and violates the contract with her union employees.

Bureau County State's Attorney Patrick Herrmann is representing Hieronymus in the lawsuit, which seeks to void the county's budget for the clerk's office and reinstate the amount Hieronymus requested.

Herrmann said Monday that under state law, he has the authority to represent the County Board and officials elected to county offices in civil matters. He has previously represented the county in a case against an elected official.

"In this case, I can only represent one side," he said. "It's certainly unusual."

Herrmann said in previous instances when the board and an elected official have been sued, and he's represented the elected official, the board hired outside counsel to represent itself.

County Board Chairman Marc Wilt declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.

No other departments have filed complaints against the board over similar cuts in the looming fiscal year. The circuit clerk's and assessor's offices will each lose one staff member, and one janitor and two employees from another office also will be cut.

In the clerk's office, the cuts would be made from a current staffing level of seven employees, half of whom are union. Hieronymus has said she started with nine employees when she first took office in 1987.

Reach Journal Star reporter Ann Weeks at (309) 686-3041 or state@pjstar.com. Matt Buedel contributed to this story. He can be reached at (309) 686-3154 or mbuedel@pjstar.com.

Article Categories
News