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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Ind. Courts - More on "Montgomery County judges issue mandate for staff raises"

A story today in the Crawfordsville Journal Review reports:

Montgomery County Council members learned Tuesday a judge has been appointed to hear the Montgomery County judges’ mandate case.

County Attorney Dan Taylor told council members the Indiana Supreme Court appointed a Cass County judge to hear and rule on the case. Taylor could not recall which judge had been appointed.

Julian L. Ridlen, Cass Circuit Court, was appointed by the Supreme Court in this order issued 11/7/05. More from today's paper:
Montgomery County Judges Thomas K. Milligan, Peggy Q. Lohorn and David A. Ault mandated a $10,000 pay increase for court reporters and other employees in August after three employees left the Circuit Court’s employ for better pay in the last two years.

At the time of the mandate, the county was ordered by the Department of Government and Local Finance to cut the proposed 2006 budget by $750,000.

With a tightening budget, the council was unable to agree to the judges’ mandate.

“The judge will set a (court date) probably before the end of the year,” Councilman Terry Hockersmith said. “He’ll hear the case, then make the ruling.”

For background on this story, see ILB entries from: 8/18/05; 8/20/05; and 8/24/05.

My Sept. 2005 Res Gestae column on judicial mandates is available here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 16, 2005 02:07 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts