Judge William Stone has ruled that the Escambia County Commissioners’ 401a retirement plan is unlawful, and the county’s contributions to the Local Plan on behalf of county commissioners constitute unlawful compensation.
The judge added that the County Clerk Pam Childers “properly exercised discretion in ceasing to make the payments the Local Plan.”
Read Escambia County v. Pam Childers – Order.
Featured Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Below is a link to the key state law discussed in the order. The county’s view has been that the fifth sentence stands apart from the rest of the law providing a general grant of authority unrelated to the limited classes of county employees mentioned in the first sentence. As I read the law, sentences two through six only described how to provide the benefits to those employees. The two private attorneys (Michael Mattimore and Troy Rafferty) who wrote meandering legal opinions for the county telling the commissioners whatever they wanted to be told claimed without any evidence that the fifth sentence meant whatever the BCC said it meant. Judge Stone did not agree. The big unasked and so unanswered question is why County Attorney Rogers didn’t just say NO to the commissioners. It’s hard to believe that she didn’t know the law as it all seems black & white and laid out so neatly by Judge Stone. Perhaps the lesson learned is that county attorneys should be elected officials too so they can tell it like it is to the commissioners.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0121/Sections/0121.182.html
Best quote from the PNJ article….
“This dispute started with a lucrative back pay attempt by Commissioner Steven Barry,” Childers said. “Under the chairmanship of Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, this absurd pension was forced into unnecessary and costly litigation. It is clear that the evil present here needs to be corrected, and the commissioners who received this unlawful and exorbitant compensation will be compelled to pay it back.”
Wow. Judge Stone is a kick ass judge. So inspired by his order that not only is a great analysis of the law, but points out the corruption of the plan our commissioners hatched to line their own pockets at the expense of the citizens. We should all be proud that our Clerk, Pam Childers, took the heat, had the courage, and endured endless and cruel vilification by our commissioners and Inweekly to stand up for what is legal, right and just. The boys should be ashamed of themselves and not proceed with any appeal at taxpayer expense.
So here’s what I’ve never understood about her pursuing this so hard, rather than working with the County on it, when she had dispensed these payments and according to her own timeline continued to make them even *after* she was of the opinion they were illegal.
If any payments are unauthorized or illegal, doesn’t she have to pay that personally? (Although she would have a bond on that I believe.) So does Pam have to repay out of her own pocket the unlawful monies she dispensed?
And since she stated in court that she continued to make the payments even after she had decided it was most likely illegal, aren’t those then technically misdemeanors?
The only way this makes sense is if she was (a) absolutely convinced that she wouldn’t be out any money from her own pocket, and (b) wouldn’t be prosecuted.
What an absolute waste of taxpayer money, when this whole thing could have been determined by an AG opinion sought in mutual cooperation. The resources squandered are just mind-numbing.