Pike County Judge David Brewer defended his court order giving a $12,000-a-year raise to his court administrator, saying the increase brings her pay in line with what the state allows, the county isn’t on the hook for all of her salary and he’s only exercising this authority after county officials shorted her compensation.
Brewer sent the order to the Pike County Board of Supervisors, who acknowledged the receipt of it but took no further action after meeting in executive session on Monday. Supervisors can either accept the order and comply with it or appeal it to circuit court within 30 days. One supervisor said the board appears to be ready to comply with the order.
“I’m fairly new to the bench,” Brewer, who took office in January, said in an interview Thursday.
Brewer said he is simply taking the same steps as his predecessor, former County Judge John Price.
“He entered the same order all of those years,” Brewer said. “I am required to set the salaries for the court administrator and court reporter. The board has nothing to do with it.”
Brewer said court administrator Sue Moak has been on the job for 24 years and, until last year, was making less than a deputy court administrator at the level that the state Administrative Office of Courts allows.
The $12,000 brings her up to current pay levels, Brewer said.
“We have to comply with all AOC rules and regulations because we are a legislatively created state court,” Brewer said. “This is my bailiwick, and has been this court’s bailiwick for many years.
“My employees should not be treated any less than a circuit court administrator. We deal daily with murder charges, child custody cases — serious issues. My people work hard and deserve proper compensation.”
Brewer said Moak’s salary will go to $61,400, which comes out to be a 19.5% raise. Of that, the county will pay $37,000, with the rest coming from a grant.
“That’s a lot less than what some part-time county employees are making,” he said.
He added that the county rarely pays for all of his court’s salaries.
“A third of my salary comes from the state, not the people of Pike County, and half of Ms. Moak’s is paid from the state,” he said. “If I wanted to, I could order the board to pay it all out of their pocket and then keep all of my youth court funds to use in other places.”
This marks the second such order this year the board has received from Brewer, who took office in January, regarding Moak’s pay. The first involved timesheets and led to a messy dispute between Brewer and county officials.
Brewer said he sent a budget request to the county in August that included a reduction in the court reporter’s salary but raised Moak’s salary to $61,400.
“That was met in return, in the board’s proposed budget, with a 5% raise, which I found unconscionable,” Brewer said. “In the interim, all of the other court reporters got their raises, but not Ms. Moak.”
Brewer said state law and the separation of powers doctrine grants him the authority to issue court orders to supervisors regarding employee pay and other matters, and this is the way he intends to communicate those issues to the county.
“ I can tell you, this court is going to deal with the board in the same way the state Supreme Court, the circuit courts, the chancery courts and the U.S. Supreme Court deal with legislative bodies, and that is by order,” Brewer said. “I am an elected judicial official, not a politician anymore. And I insist on running the court the right way, which I have done.”
Plus, he said there is a difference between his court, which falls under the state’s Administrative Office of Courts, and a county department.
“I’m a separate branch of government, not beholden to the board. I’m a state court, not a justice court,” he said.
Brewer said if supervisors disagree with his order, then “they are welcome to appeal it to another court, where, I’m certain, the court administrator is making exactly what I’m asking for now.”
Asked if he was worried about the possibility of a frayed relationship with the board as a result of these interactions, Brewer said he’s just doing his job.
“We treat it all as business, or at least all of us should,” Brewer said. “I like most of the board members. I don’t have any personal beef with any of them individually, but, in this current case, I asked for something first that I knew I could order. But it was the action I felt was right to take. This is no real justice if the legislative or executive departments of local government have anything to do with my decisions issued from my court.
“And if I hear that the board claims that they need to find $30,000 of unbudgeted funds that needs to come from somewhere, my reply would be you’ve basically been given a free county administrator for the past 15 or 20 years. Suck it up. I could have ordered them to pay the whole amount, but I didn’t. Am I hurting the county? Not at all.”
