Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Consolidation of four offices enters discussion of August Quorum Court meeting

Controversy reared its head at the Nevada County Quorum Court meeting with the topic of consolidation.

Gary Lewis, justice of the peace, again brought up the idea of merging offices to reduce the cost of operating county government. He suggested combining the offices of County Clerk and Circuit Clerk, along with blending the County Treasurer and Collector into one office. He also called for a special election to let the public decide the issue.

This was suggested at the meeting Monday, Aug. 11.

Lewis, who had brought up the issue several months ago, said he'd done research in the interim on the potential savings for the county.

Nevada County, he said, is a class 1 county, with there being 10 in the state. Of these counties, six have combined the offices of county and circuit clerk along with the offices of treasurer and collector.

The average budgets for those counties, he said, is $152,466 a year, while the cost of running the offices for Nevada County is $174,000.

The combined offices, he continued, have staffs of 3.17 persons, or 4.17 counting the official. For Nevada County, this figure is six, with one part-time worker.

"The savings we would realize would be $30,000 a year," Lewis said. "I want the people of Nevada County to decide. We can have a (special) election and put it before the people. Then, in 2004, we can combine the offices."

Willie Wilson, a member of the court, voiced his opposition to the proposal saying his constituents have said the offices are running efficiently and serving the people of the county.

"I went out to the people to get a cross section response," he said. The results were the same, Wilson told the court, with everyone he talked to saying consolidating the offices is not a good idea.

Lewis said the public wouldn't be voting on consolidation. "We would let the people decide what they want to do. I want to present it to the people of Nevada County, giving them the facts and letting them decide. We need to give them the opportunity for a change of government if they feel it would be beneficial to them."

Lewis said he's had people come and ask him to bring this issue before the court.

"If the people of Nevada County wanted a change," Wilson said, "I feel they would have bombarded us with calls on it."

Nevada County Treasurer Karen Cobb said if her offices was combined with the collector's office, her work load would be doubled. "I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it," she said.

Curtis Lee Johnson said any money saved by combining the offices would be used in giving raises to others.

Myrna Waters agreed, saying if offices were consolidated those doing the extra work should be given raises. She then questioned where any savings would be.

Lewis said the county was just scraping by now, on a financial basis, with officials asking for items they need, but the county can't afford.

"Each year it's gotten worse," he said. "Other counties are doing the work with two less people, what makes you think we couldn't do it?"

JP Arval Mason said the county is getting less money each year and the courthouse needs both cosmetic and structural repairs the county can't afford.

When budget time rolls around, he continued, everyone asks for a raise, while the state has cut back on the amount it sends to counties. "The people don't care about that."

The easiest way to help ease the financial problem, Lewis said, would be to put this issue on the ballot and let the people decide if they want to combine the offices.

County Attorney Joe Graham said combining the offices of circuit and county clerk would be one thing, but there could be problems in merging the treasurer and collector's offices.

This, he said, is because the issue of combining the treasurer and collector's offices would require two ballot questions. The initial question would be to separate the collector's office from the sheriff's office, and then to merge it with the treasurer's office.

Depending on how the vote turned out, what could happen is the county might have a separate, and new, office for the collector, which would require a salary for a newly elected official. Additionally, the 2004 ballot would then have to include a position for the new office of Tax Collector.

Wilson said an election would be opening "Pandora's Box" and be nothing but trouble for the county.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown suggested tabling the issue until the September meeting. This, he said, would give the JPs time to discuss it with their constituents and vote accordingly.

He also pointed out a special election would cost the county at least $10,000, and there's nothing in the budget for it.

The court agreed to table the issue until September, with the JPs urging county residents to call them with their opinion in the interim.

The phone number for all JPs can be obtained by calling the county clerk's office at 887-2710.