Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Kenton surplus may help boost bailiffs
BY JANE PRENDERGAST datel INDEPENDENCE - The flap over sufficienct sufficient security at the new Kenton County Justice Center may be alleviated thanks to some surplus money the sheriff might be able to carry over from last year.
The Cincinnati Enquirer datel INDEPENDENCE - The flap over sufficienct sufficient security at the new Kenton County Justice Center may be alleviated thanks to some surplus money the sheriff might be able to carry over from last year.
Until tax collections are finished, deputies won't know how much relief any surplus would provide toward the more than $400,000 they need to hire additional bailiffs. But they got a promise Tuesday night from Kenton Fiscal Court members, who said the sheriff could keep any additional money he might find.
Still, Sheriff Chuck Korzen born and his deputies have to figure out how to ratchet down a budget they say is already tight. They will start that process today.
“We'll do what we have to to get the job done,” Sheriff Korzenborn said. “People elected me to do the job, and I will. I'm just challenged.”
The court, which commented about what a great job Sheriff Korzenborn and his staff are doing in fixing problems they inherited from the previous administration, passed a $2 million budget for him. That includes 3 percent raises for deputies, but about $400,000 less than he said he needed to comply with a court order to provide 19 full-time bailiffs.
The new justice center, which opened in June, is staffed by six full-timers and 26 part-timers. Because that's not as many as the circuit court judges and chief Kentucky Supreme Court judges want, the sheriff is technically in contempt of court.
Chief Judge Steven Jaeger said after the meeting, however, that he was not ready to say what action, if any, he would take against the sheriff. He said the current bailiffs do good work and that he would continue to be tolerant of the sheriff's financial situation.
“I'm not going to say they can't do it yet,” the judge said. “Perhaps they can.”
Deputy Judge-executive Scott Kimmich said he did not want to put himself in the middle of the sheriff's budgeting process, and declined to comment on how big the surplus might be. He did point out, though, that the $400,000 is a recurring expense that can't be fixed with just one year's surplus. He said he was confident the sheriff and judges could resolve the issue.
The court could have chosen to give the sheriff's department more money. By law, the sheriff's department must give the fiscal court 25 percent of the fees it takes in from tax collec tion, vehicle inspections and other work — an estimated $500,000 this year. The court can give back some or all of that money.
But fiscal courts have come to rely on the 25 percent for other needs. Giving that money back to the sheriff's department would require significant cuts in other county services, Mr. Kimmich said.
Commissioner Adam Koenig suggested lobbying the legislature for a long-term solution to the bailiff funding problem. Now, the state Administrative Office of the Courts pays the sheriff $8 an hour for every bailiff's work — not enough to attract quality people, the sheriff says; plus that doesn't cover benefits, training and equipment. That led Mr. Koenig to suggest visiting lawmakers to ask for more.
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