Four Clark County Fiscal Court magistrates have accused a judge-executive of granting pay increases to county employees without authorization from fiscal court.
Local news outlets report that magistrates Pamela Blackburn, Daniel Konstantopolous, Robert Blanton and Joe Graham filed a petition for declaratory judgment Thursday, saying that Judge-Executive Henry Branham has no unilateral authority to grant pay increases.
County Attorney Brian Thomas countered that the pay increases were part of a budget approved by the fiscal court.
The magistrates argued that there was no mention of employee pay increases in the minutes of the county’s budget workshops last year. They said that the court approved a budget that could afford a 1.7 percent cost-of-living increase but did not approve individual raises.
Branham had said he implemented both the budgeted raises and the 1.7 percent increase as an administrative function.
Konstantopoulos said the magistrates tried to negotiate a resolution with Branham, but were unsuccessful. He added filing legal action was a last resort.
A hearing on the petition has not been scheduled yet before Clark Circuit Judge Jean Chenault Logue.
Source: AP
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