LITTLE ROCK — A lawsuit filed against Madison County District Judge Orville Clift is the next step in the debate over how to fund the district court, Huntsville Mayor Kevin Hatfield said Friday.
The suit seeks to set aside Clift’s Feb. 17 order which directed the Madison County district court clerk to split the court’s costs evenly between the city and county.
Hatfield said the city supports Clift’s decision, but a lawsuit is the only way to resolve the disagreement.
“Madison County is doing exactly what they should do if they don’t agree with Judge Clift’s ruling,” Hatfield said.
The suit was filed March 20 by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Billy Allred.
Clift was served Wednesday and has 30 days to respond. After a response is filed, Circuit Judge Kim Smith will set a court date.
Allred said the county believes Clift erred in his interpretation of Arkansas Code Annotated 16-17-115, which requires the county to pay half of Clift’s salary and half the salary of the chief court clerk.
Chief District Court Clerk Michelle Bohannan said she will continue to follow Clift’s February order until directed to do otherwise.
Even after splitting the operational costs of the court, the county is receiving more money in fines and fees than it did last year, Bohannan said. Last month, the county received about $20,000 after paying its half of the costs, which run $3,500 to $4,000 a month, she said.
The city received about $4,100 after its half of the operational costs were paid, Bohannan said. She said the court’s caseload has been increasing each month.
County Judge Frank Weaver, who was not available for comment Friday, has said the disagreement over court funding arose when the city decided to stop contributing $35,000 toward the county’s emergency dispatching costs.
He said previously that the county made up for the added dispatching costs in its 2012 budget with money it originally budgeted for the district court.
Huntsville City Attorney Howard Cain has offered another opinion of the law cited by Allred, which says the county “shall, at its annual meeting, make an appropriation of a sum sufficient to pay the county’s proportion of the expenses of any such district court.”
By Cain’s interpretation, the county is responsible for paying more than half of the two salaries.
Hatfield said the dispute won’t hurt the relationship between the city and the county.
“We’re not seventh-graders, we’re government officials,” Hatfield said. “I’m trying to act in the best interest of the city and Judge Weaver is trying to act in the best interest of the county. We just disagree on what the law says.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/14/2012