County board says let it go

PRINCETON — The Bureau County Board is once again asking the courts to dismiss a complaint filed against it by Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus.

On Monday, Springfield attorney Gary Smith, representing the county board, filed a motion to dismiss Hieronymus’ third amended complaint, saying Hieronymus’ third amended complaint is basically the same as the second amended complaint.

Hieronymus’ original complaint was filed last fall after the county board cut $18,000 from her clerk hire budget. The original complaint was dismissed in March, but amended versions of the complaint have been before the courts since that time. The goal of the complaint is for the courts to declare as invalid the county board’s decision to cut Hieronymus’ clerk hire budget.

In Monday’s motion to dismiss, Smith said Hieronymus has asked the courts to invalidate the budget-setting authority of the county board. The courts are not authorized to do that, he said. If the complaint stands, the court will likely be holding budget hearings each fall to decide how much money to appropriate for all county departments, Smith said.

“Budget disputes are inevitable,” Smith said. “If allowed to stand, the plaintiff’s (Hieronymus’) allegations will open up a Pandora’s Box, making the court a super-board overseeing the entire budget process.”

If Hieronymus’ complaint stands, department heads throughout the state could hold the threat of a lawsuit against a county board for any reduction in that department’s budget, Smith said. Disgruntled department heads could use the threat of litigation to extract more money from a county board or to defeat potential budget cuts to those departments, he said.

In Monday’s motion to dismiss, Smith said Hieronymus again failed to describe what functions, duties or obligations she could not perform with the reduction in her clerk hire line item. Also, she is in error by assuming she must have at least the amount of money appropriated as in previous years, Smith said.

“Such an assumption would mean the county board could never reduce the amount in the deputy clerk hire line item,” Smith said. “This premise is incorrect as a matter of law.”

In her third amended complaint, Hieronymus compared her budget decrease of 14 percent to other county departments, some of which even saw increases in their budgets. However, that comparison has no bearing on the amount of her budget, Smith said.