CLEVELAND - Elected officials and staff from the four counties included in the Enotah Judicial Circuit met at the Western Sizzlin north of Cleveland Monday night to look at the budgets for each of the divisions in the circuit.
Each of the counties, Towns Union, Lumpkin and White, provide funding for the District Attorney, Public Defender, Juvenile and Superior court operations.
Each department had an opportunity to present their budget requests, with the Public Defender and District Attorney budgets remaining close to last year.
The Superior Court and Juvenile Court budget proved challenging for the elected officials. Many of the county commissioners are in favor of reducing the local supplement provided to the yet-to-be-named new judges in the circuit.
Last year the three judges received $20,000 in supplements, but within the last couple of months, two of the judges have stepped down and commissioners want to reduce that supplement to new judges.
Current Superior Court Judge Murphy Miller told commissioners he doesn't think they can pay different supplement amounts. The commissioners said they will be consulting with the Attorney General's office to see if that is possible.
As far as the juvenile court is concerned, Judge Jerry Bruce included a $25,000 salary increase in his budget, however, commissioners said they don't like voting for that type of increase while their county employees have gone four or five years without an increase.
The commissioners said they will be talking within their own boards and get together at a future date to make a decision on the overall budget.
Saturday
June 28th, 2025
8:56PM
