Council OKs payroll funds this week for employees

Testimony in the case will continue today.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
GIRARD -- Members of city council have decided to appropriate funds to meet payroll for court employees this week, but a decision on future court funding will have to come from the Eleventh District Court of Appeals.
City officials and Girard Municipal Court Judge Michael Bernard, represented by Atty. John Juhasz, continue court wrangling over two orders for additional funding for the court issued by Judge Bernard in 2005 and 2006. According to law, the city must show that the judge's request for additional funding is unnecessary and unreasonable or it must provide the judge with the money he says is needed to run the court.
Judge Bernard has said the court cannot make payroll this week unless additional funds are appropriated.
Unanimous vote
Council voted unanimously at a special meeting Tuesday night to appropriate an extra $75,000 for court operations. City Auditor Sam Zirafi said the $75,000 will meet payroll this week and fund the courts through mid-September.
In the meantime, appellate court arguments over how much money is needed to operate the court continue.
Warren Attorney Frank Bodor, representing the city, during a Tuesday cross examination of Judge Bernard spent considerable time examining a 2002 performance audit on the court conducted by the state auditor's office. Bodor said the document included several money-saving initiatives that Judge Bernard chose not to use.
According to Bodor, the audit said that the city of Hubbard, which also falls under the jurisdiction of the Girard Municipal Court, should share the cost of the court when the court is not operating in the black. Judge Bernard agreed that Hubbard should share in the cost when the court is at a financial loss, but he put forth no order for payment in 2005 when there was a loss, he said.
Funding health benefits
Bodor also said the audit suggested that probation department employee salaries and a portion of those employees' health benefits be paid out of the court's probationary fund rather than the city's general fund. Judge Bernard, emphasizing that money in the fund must also cover other expenses, said those salaries are paid through the special fund, but not health benefits.
Bodor next asked Judge Bernard about a recommendation from the audit that the court magistrate's compensation come from the court's special projects fund. Judge Bernard said that recommendation was not followed because he does not feel hiring a magistrate is a special project.
Bodor also questioned Judge Bernard as to why a recommendation to decrease his staff by 4.5 people, citing a decreased caseload, was not followed. Judge Bernard ultimately called the audit "garbage," saying that it did not take into account the efficiency and effectiveness of his court and staff. The judge also said comparing his court to other courts, some without probation departments, is unfair.
Bodor then called Nita Hendryx, state auditor's office representative to the state fiscal commission put in place to oversee spending in the city, to answer questions about spending in the court.
Increased spending
Hendryx told the court that a comparison was done between Girard Municipal Court, Girard Police Department and the Girard Fire Department, and it was discovered that the court was the only department to show an increase in spending between 2001 and 2005.
Hendryx said spending in the court increased by 13 percent while spending in the police department decreased by about 10 percent and spending in the fire department decreased by about 5 percent.
Hendryx also told the court that Girard Municipal Court, in a study by her office, was compared to 33 other municipal courts. She said the other courts averaged about 10 full-time employees, two part-time employees and a caseload of little more than 8,900. She said Girard court had a caseload of about 7,355 and operated with 14 full-time employees and three part-time employees.
Testimony in the case will continue today. Magistrate Matthew Lamb said he is hoping to conclude testimony by the end of the week.
jgoodwin@vindy.com