Senate Bill No. 545
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced February 19, 1996; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance
.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article seven, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to salaries for
county officials; and raising the salaries for prosecuting
attorneys in Class I and II counties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article seven, chapter seven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR COUNTY EMPLOYEES, ETC.;
COMPENSATION OF ELECTED COUNTY OFFICIALS; COUNTY
ASSISTANTS, DEPUTIES AND EMPLOYEES, THEIR NUMBER
AND COMPENSATION.
§7-7-4. Compensation of elected county officials and county
commissioners for each class of county; effective
date.
(a) (1) All county commissioners shall be paid compensation
out of the county treasury in amounts and according to the
schedule hereafter set forth for each class of county as
determined by the provisions of section three of this article:
Provided, That as to any county having a tribunal in lieu of a
county commission, the county commissioners of the county may be
paid less than the minimum compensation limits of the county
commission for the particular class of such county.
Class I$20,000
Class II$15,500
Class III$14,000
Class IV$10,000
Class V$ 7,000
Class VI$ 4,000
The compensation hereinabove provided shall be paid on and
after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-five, to each county commissioner. Within each county,
every county commissioner whose term of office commenced prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five,
shall receive the same annual compensation as commissioners
commencing a term of office on or after that date by virtue of
the new duties imposed upon county commissioners pursuant to the
provisions of chapter fifteen, acts of the Legislature, first
extraordinary session, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three.
(2) For the purpose of determining the compensation to be
paid to the elected county officials of each county, the
following compensations for each county office by class are
hereby established and shall be used by each county commission in
determining the compensation of each of their county officials
other than compensation of members of the county commission:
County Circuit Prosecuting
SheriffClerkClerkAssessor Attorney
Class I$24,200$31,300$31,300$24,200 $41,500
Class II$24,200$28,000$28,000$24,200$39,500
Class III$24,200$28,000$28,000$24,200 $30,000
Class IV$22,300$24,000$24,000$22,300 $26,500
Class V$20,400$22,000$22,000$20,400 $23,500
Class VI$17,200$17,200$17,200$17,200 $17,000
Any county clerk, circuit clerk, joint clerk of the county
commission and circuit court, if any, county assessor, sheriff
and prosecuting attorney of a Class I county, any assessor of a
Class II and Class III county, any sheriff of a Class II and
Class III county and any prosecuting attorney of a Class II
county shall devote full time to his or her public duties to the
exclusion of any other employment: Provided, That any public
official, whose term of office begins when his or her county's
classification imposes no restriction on his or her outside
activities, shall not be restricted on his or her outside
activities during the remainder of the term for which he or she
is elected. The compensation hereinabove provided shall be paid
on and after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-five, to each elected county official.
In the case of a county that has a joint clerk of the county
commission and circuit court, the compensation of the joint clerk
shall be fixed in an amount twenty-five percent higher than the
compensation would be fixed for the county clerk if it had
separate offices of county clerk and circuit clerk.
The Legislature finds, as a fact, that the duties imposed
upon county clerks by the provisions of chapter sixty-four, acts of the Legislature, regular session, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-two, and by chapter fifteen, acts of the Legislature,
first extraordinary session, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-three, constitute new and additional duties for county
clerks and as such justify the additional compensation provided
in this section without violating the provisions of section
thirty-eight, article VI of the constitution of West Virginia.
The Legislature further finds as a fact that the duties
imposed upon circuit clerks by the provisions of chapters
sixty-one and one hundred eighty-two, acts of the Legislature,
regular session, one thousand nine hundred eighty-one, and by
chapter sixty, acts of the Legislature, regular session, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-three, constitute new and additional
duties for circuit clerks and as such justify the additional
compensation provided by this section without violating the
provisions of section thirty-eight, article VI of the
constitution of West Virginia.
(b) Prior to the primary election in the year one thousand
nine hundred ninety-two, and for the fiscal year beginning on the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, or for
any subsequent fiscal year if the approval set out herein is not granted for any fiscal year, and at least thirty days prior to
the meeting to approve the county budget, the commission shall
provide notice to the public of the date and time of the meeting
and that the purpose of the meeting of the county commission is
to decide upon their budget certification to the tax department.
Upon submission by the county commission to the chief inspector
division of the department of tax and revenue of a proposed
annual budget which contains anticipated receipts into the
county's general revenue fund, less anticipated moneys from the
unencumbered fund balance, equal to anticipated receipts into the
county's general revenue fund, less anticipated moneys from the
unencumbered fund balance and any federal or state special
grants, for the immediately preceding fiscal year, plus such
additional amount as is necessary for payment of the increases in
the salaries set out herein and related employment taxes over
that paid for the immediately preceding fiscal year, and upon
approval thereof by the chief inspector, which approval shall not
be granted for any proposed annual budget containing anticipated
receipts which are unreasonably greater or lesser than that of
the immediately preceding fiscal year, for the purpose of
determining the compensation to be paid to the elected county officials of each county office by class are hereby established
and shall be used by each county commission in determining the
compensation of each of their county officials: Provided, That
as to any county having a tribunal in lieu of a county
commission, the county commissioners of the county may be paid
less than the minimum compensation limits of the county
commission for the particular class of the county.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Class I$24,000
Class II$18,600
Class III$16,800
Class IV$12,000
Class V$ 8,400
If the approval set out hereinabove is granted, the
compensation hereinabove provided shall be paid on and after the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, to
each county commissioner. Within each county, every county
commissioner shall receive the same annual compensation by virtue
of the new duties imposed upon county commissioners pursuant to
the provisions of chapter one hundred seventy-two, acts of the
Legislature, second regular session, one thousand nine hundred ninety, and chapter five, acts of the Legislature, third
extraordinary session, one thousand nine hundred ninety.
OTHER ELECTED OFFICIALS
CountyCircuit Prosecuting
SheriffClerkClerk AssessorAttorney
Class I$29,040$37,560$37,560$29,040$59,500$75,000
Class II$29,040$33,600$33,600$29,040$59,500$75,000
Class III$29,040$33,600$33,600$29,040$36,000
Class IV$26,760$28,800$28,800$26,760$31,800
Class V$24,480$26,400$26,400$24,480$28,200
Class VI$24,480$26,400$26,400$24,480$28,200
Any county clerk, circuit clerk, joint clerk of the county
commission and circuit court, if any, county assessor, sheriff
and prosecuting attorney of a Class I county, any assessor of a
Class II and Class III county, any sheriff of a Class II and
Class III county and any prosecuting attorney of a Class II
county shall devote full time to his or her public duties to the
exclusion of any other employment: Provided, That any public
official, whose term of office begins when his or her county's
classification imposes no restriction on his or her outside activities, shall not be restricted on his or her outside
activities during the remainder of the term for which he or she
is elected. If the approval set out hereinabove is granted, the
compensation hereinabove provided shall be paid on and after the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, to
each elected county official.
In the case of a county that has a joint clerk of the county
commission and circuit court, the compensation of the joint clerk
shall be fixed in an amount twenty-five percent higher than the
compensation would be fixed for the county clerk if it had
separate offices of county clerk and circuit clerk.
Prior to the primary election in the year one thousand nine
hundred ninety-two, in the case of a Class III, Class IV or Class
V county which has a part-time prosecuting attorney, the county
commission may find that such facts and circumstances exist that
require the prosecuting attorney to devote full time to his or
her public duties for the four-year term, beginning the first day
of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three. If the
county commission makes such a finding, it may by proper order
adopted and entered, require the prosecuting attorney who takes
office on the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, to devote full time to his or her public duties and
the county commission shall then compensate said prosecuting
attorney at the same rate of compensation as that of a
prosecuting attorney in a Class II county.
For any county: (1) Which on and after the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, is classified as a
Class II county; and (2) which prior to such date was classified
as a Class III, Class IV or Class V county and maintained a part-
time prosecuting attorney, the county commission may elect to
maintain the prosecuting attorney as a part-time prosecuting
attorney: Provided, That prior to the first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-six, the county commission shall
make a finding, by proper order and entered, whether to
maintain a full-time or part-time prosecuting attorney. The
part-time prosecuting attorney shall be compensated at the same
rate of compensation as that of a prosecuting attorney in the
class for the county prior to being classified as a Class II
county.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to raise the salaries of prosecuting attorneys in Class I and Class II counties as these
prosecutors are not allowed to have a private practice.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.