Wayne and Pike support effort to force state to pay local courts

By TOM KANE

MILFORD & HONESDALE, PA – The Wayne and Pike county commissioners are joining efforts by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) to ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to enforce a 1996 order that would have the state pay for all the activities of the County Courts of Common Pleas.

“For 21 years, the state has failed to take steps to implement the rulings by the court, and this has been to the detriment of local taxpayers,” said CCAP president and Greene County Commissioner Dave Coder. “The motion we are filing today is to require further action by the state to address court funding and administration.”

CCAP is a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing the commissioner, chief clerks and administrators of the 67 counties of the state.

As it is now, the costs of all the activities of the Court of Common Pleas is paid for through the property tax. “It’s basically unfair that property owners should be the only ones who pay for the court,” said Wayne County Commissioner Tony Herzog.

Under this order, the cost of the court would be paid for by the state tax. Court departments that would be paid for by the state would be probation, domestic relations, law clerks, court reporters and prothonotary, according to Linus Myers, Wayne County court administrator.

Also, the state pays only $70,000 toward the county court judge’s $157,000 salary, Myers said.

“That’s in 1996 dollars,” said Pike commissioner Karl Wagner. “With adjustments for the cost of living increases, that amount should be $188,000.”

“Since the legislature has chosen to ignore the court’s order, we have a log jam between the legislative and the executive branches of state government,” said commissioner Harry Forbes. “The court has no jurisdiction over the legislature.”

“To add insult to injury, the state mandated that the DA should be fulltime, but they won’t pay for 65 percent of the salary, which is what they promised to do,” Wagner said. “That comes out of the property tax too.”

“There should be a unified court system instead of the present condition with 67 different counties handling the cost and operation of the court,” Forbes said.

“I’m not optimistic about this,” Wagner said.