Hal Smith, Lee County's former Probate Court Judge preceding the current office holder, sat down with the Examiner recently to provide his expert perspective regarding the future of that position which he held for twenty-four years. First elected in 1977, Smith had previously served for six years as the clerk for the circuit court before becoming the Probate Judge for Lee County. Smith was in office when the decision was made to expand the commission from four districts to five in 1986. Up until that time each commissioner had been vested with extensive executive authority in their district to personally manage engineering work done by the county, a peculiar system rife with abuse which was done away with due to its tendency toward corrupt practices and replaced with a newly dedicated position of County Engineer to enhance efficiency.
Lee County's fifth district was created to broadly represent African-American residents as well as in recognition of the county's overall population growth that had nearly doubled its size at that point in time since the end of World War Two. Smith unreservedly expressed his firm belief that the Chairman position of the Lee County Commission should be decisively separated from the Probate Court Judge office due to the overwhelming caseload that further exponential population growth has brought since he was originally elected. Increasing from just over 60,000 residents in Lee County when he first took office to the 174,241 inhabitants counted in the 2020 census, Smith was unequivocal in stating that the time for change has come with an imperative to remove chairmanship of the commission from the probate judge. Neighboring Russell County elects their chairman from amongst the body of commissioners in an alternate organizational structure which may be better suited to the representational needs of a growing population.
Proposing to schedule the $20,000 increase to the Probate Court Judge's salary to be effective as of the county's next fiscal year in October 2023 was an aspect of the pay raise request by the commission that Smith took issue with, advising that it would be more appropriate for that wage hike to align with the next election cycle in 2024 and applied to the future office holder instead. In contrast with the current Lee County Probate Court Judge who has received 18 cost of living adjustment salary increases during his tenure, Smith stated that he had never received any such cost of living adjustments while he held that same office. Judge Smith retired in 2001 with a salary of $75,000 compared to the $150,000 in annual pay being requested by the Lee County Commission for the current Probate Court Judge.
That same agenda document stated Lee County's Probate Court Judge ranked 24th in terms of salary when compared to his 67 fellow probate court judges across Alabama. On its face this is an apples to oranges comparison when considering that demographics between counties in the state vary widely as do the responsibilities assigned to each judge by their county. Shelby and Baldwin counties were cited by Smith as being the only two reasonable comparisons to legitimately make when assessing the salary that should be paid to the probate court judge, each of which have populations counted at 226,902 and 239,294 respectively. Further articles on this subject will be forthcoming in the near future as the Examiner continues to unearth the facts of this matter that have been made opaque by the curious conduct of the Lee County Commission in their request for this salary increase.
Comments