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A County Attorney's Legal Advice About the Procedure for Her Own Raise
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Here's an ugly little case study, based on an ethics complaint filed in
September in Hillborough County, the county which includes Tampa.
According to the complaint (attached; see below), the county
administrator wanted to give herself and the county attorney a 1%
salary increase. Salary increases in the county must be approved by the
Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). The county administrator asked
the county attorney if the raises would be legal without such approval,
and the county attorney said they would be, because it was a benefit
all county employees were entitled to receive. However, for the two of
them this increase
was above that already approved by the BOCC.
The same increase was offered to the head of the environmental protection commission staff, and he refused it, because it hadn't been approved by the BOCC.
According to the complaint, an audit was done internally and, when the situation was disclosed, the BOCC admonished the county attorney for giving legal advice in contradiction to BOCC policy. The county attorney offered to decrease her salary in the future, but did not offer to return the extra salary she had received.
The money is secondary to the conflicts involved, assuming for the purposes of this case study that the allegations are all true. The county administrator should not have asked the county attorney to provide a legal opinion on an issue that directly affected the county attorney's pay. And the county attorney should have refused, asking the county administrator to seek outside advice. Even if the county attorney thought she was right, she should have shared her opinion with the BOCC, since the opinion effectively undermined its authority.
In addition, since the charter requires the county attorney to represent both the administrator and the BOCC, if there is any possible conflict between them, as there was here, the other party's permission should be sought.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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The same increase was offered to the head of the environmental protection commission staff, and he refused it, because it hadn't been approved by the BOCC.
According to the complaint, an audit was done internally and, when the situation was disclosed, the BOCC admonished the county attorney for giving legal advice in contradiction to BOCC policy. The county attorney offered to decrease her salary in the future, but did not offer to return the extra salary she had received.
The money is secondary to the conflicts involved, assuming for the purposes of this case study that the allegations are all true. The county administrator should not have asked the county attorney to provide a legal opinion on an issue that directly affected the county attorney's pay. And the county attorney should have refused, asking the county administrator to seek outside advice. Even if the county attorney thought she was right, she should have shared her opinion with the BOCC, since the opinion effectively undermined its authority.
In addition, since the charter requires the county attorney to represent both the administrator and the BOCC, if there is any possible conflict between them, as there was here, the other party's permission should be sought.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
Story Topics:
| Attachment | Size |
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 lee complaint.pdf | 0 bytes |
- Robert Wechsler's blog
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