Court budget request gets axed

City Judge Brad Johnson's request for a 20 percent salary increase was turned down by the Whitefish City Council, but some of his other budget requests met with partial approval.

Overall, Johnson's requests amounted to a 32.7 percent budget increase for the city court, amounting to $54,615 from the general budget.

This is the first year Johnson submitted a budget since the council approved giving the court more independence last November. With Johnson out of town, Subjudge Tom Tornow represented the court at the council's budget hearing June 26.

The council turned down Johnson's request for a salary increase to $71,323, noting that the raise he received last year was contingent on his salary remaining the same for the next five years. Instead, Johnson will receive a 3.1 percent cost-of-living adjustment.

Back in May, city manager Gary Marks responded to Johnson's budget request, noting that Johnson's salary had increased 136 percent over the past six years, from $24,330 in 1999 to $57,500 today.

The council also turned down an 11.1 percent raise for Johnson's full-time court clerk, Shellee Abel. Instead, she will receive the same raise as other city employees -- a 2 percent step increase and a 3.1 percent COLA.

Partially swayed by Tornow's description of a growing backlog of court filings, the council tentatively agreed to his request for a second full-time clerk, but they said they wanted additional information from Johnson before finalizing the new position.

Tornow said court work is three to six months behind, including an estimated $30,000 in unpaid fines. The court is unable to track payments based on contracts between the court and offenders, he said.

"An offender can plead guilty right away and then blow off the payments," he said. "Unless they re-offend, they're never found out."

A second clerk would help the court increase its collections.

"It's like a big field with $100 bills floating around in the wind," he said. "Do we want to hire someone to pick them all up?"

When councilor Cris Coughlin asked why the court didn't hire a collection agency, Abel said they had considered the idea.

"We might only get half the money we're owed, but that's better than nothing I guess," she said.

Tornow also explained Johnson's request to raise pay for the subjudge from $100 a month to $1,000. Tornow said he initially took on the position as community service, but the growing workload is cutting into his daytime law practice.

The council, however, grew concerned about Tornow's workload estimate, particularly if he is doing civil work in addition to prosecuting misdemeanors. With the subjudge amounting to a "quarter judge" position, the council wanted to know if subjudge should be elected.

Pending additional information provided by Johnson, the council voted down the $900 a month pay increase for the subjudge. The city budget will not be finalized until September.

Former city prosecutor and councilor Tom Muri spoke in support of Johnson and the court's budget request, calling Johnson "one of the best city judges in the state." He also claimed the council held hard feelings toward the judge and wasn't treating the court fairly.

Councilor Nick Palmer took exception to Muri's claim, saying the council does not hold hard feelings toward Johnson.

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