Judges: JEREMIAH W. (JAY) NIXON, Attorney General
Filed Date: 2/2/2001
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Rodney E. Daniels Prosecuting Attorney Office of the Prosecuting Attorney Taney County, Missouri P.O. Box 849 Forsyth, MO 65653
Dear Mr. Daniels:
You have submitted the following question to this office:
Does the Office of Prosecuting Attorney of Taney County become a full-time position when Taney County becomes a county of the first classification on January 1, 2001, and if so, what is the compensation or salary to be paid to the Prosecuting Attorney beginning January 1, 2001?
You state in your request that:
Taney County, Missouri is currently a third class county; however, it will become a first class county on January 1, 2001. Third class counties have a part-time Prosecuting Attorney, who is paid a salary according to the applicable laws for a third class county. This currently is the situation in Taney County. However, Section
The concern expressed in your request is whether it is appropriate to adjust the salary of a prosecuting attorney in the middle of a term when the classification of the county changes. Similar concerns would apply to all county offices in which the imcumbents are within their respective terms.
Article
The compensation of state, county and municipal offices shall not be increased during the term of office.
This office has interpreted this provision to not be implicated when a county changes classification from a fourth class county to a third class county. Officials in the middle of their terms of office when the county changes classification are entitled to their salaries in the higher classification because that salary was fixed by law at the time of the officials' election to their present terms. See Opinion 1-29-53, No. 92, Vogel, a copy of which is attached.
The legislature has recognized that a county may change classification in the middle of a term of office of a prosecuting attorney. Section
The prosecuting attorney of any county which becomes a county of the first classification during a four-year term of office . . . shall not be required to devote full time to such office pursuant to section
This provision giving a prosecuting attorney in a county that becomes a first class county during the term of office the option of not becoming a "full-time" prosecutor is the recognition that that individual may have fiduciary responsibilities to clients that preclude that individual from immediately abandoning those clients. While it is true that Section
The statutory framework whereby a prosecuting attorney in a first class county would be entitled to a salary greater than that of a prosecuting attorney in a third class county was in place when the Taney County officials were elected in 1998. By operation of law Taney County will become a first class county on January 1, 2001. Because the framework was in place and the county classification will change, the constitutional prohibition against increasing compensation during a term of office does not apply.
If the prosecuting attorney of Taney County chooses to be a full-time prosecutor upon Taney County becoming a first class county, the salary for that position is as set out in Section
Very truly yours,
JEREMIAH W. (JAY) NIXON Attorney General
Enclosure