A lawsuit filed last Friday by the Clerk of Superior Court, Barbara Penson – claims that the Floyd County government is refusing to adequately fund her department.

The county is constitutionally mandated to fund the office, and Penson is alleging that it has refused to do so.  The lawsuit also states the clerk has had to utilize savings from other parts of an allocated budget to make up for the budget shortfall and to ensure the office can continue to function.

One of those main points of contention – appears to be that clerks in the Superior Court office are compensated less than clerks in other courts in Floyd County. The lawsuit states that Superior Court Deputy Clerks are paid beginning at pay grade six in the county’s salary scale, while deputy clerks in the Probate Court and Juvenile Courts are paid beginning at pay grade nine, a higher amount.  Penson also alleges that the county has not reviewed the salary schedule since 2007, a task that should be performed every five years.

As a resolution, she is asking the court to force the county to –  “establish an adequate and lawful budget…to fulfill the statutory and constitutional duties of her office”, and to basically declare that the county has illegally underfunded the salaries of the clerks in her office.

And – Penson is also demanding the county pay for her attorney’s fees, in seeking a resolution to the matter. So far, she has incurred $10,546.64 in attorney’s fees for prior representation in the dispute with the county.  The clerk has also incurred fees in excess of $17,000 from her current retained counsel, Chris Balch.

Each of the Floyd County Superior Court judges recused themselves from hearing the case on Friday afternoon; a request has now been sent to the district court administrator, and district administrative judge to assign a judge to hear the case.

(WRGA Radio and the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, Georgia)