Buffalo Pay Raise Unconstitutional?
We first reported on the 5% pay increase voted on for Buffalo employees on December 3, 2008.
In summary:
Buffalo Pay Increase The Town Board of Buffalo, Oklahoma in a 3-1 vote agreed to give an across-the-board pay raise to all Town employees.
Citing differences between pay rates in Laverne, Oklahoma and neighboring Northwest Oklahoma Towns, Trustee Brown urged the passing of the pay increase.
The Buffalo Oklahoma Town Board proceeded to vote while failing to take into consideration the many factors surrounding the requested pay raise.
Granted, the labor force currently employed by the Town are paid a paltry sum for the requirements and tasks that are necessarily completed, however, a 5% pay increase across the entire employee spectrum entitles all employees whether they deserve it or not.
Read the entire article here
Then we reported on a change voted on by the Buffalo Town Trustees:
In other news this Wednesday evening (December 17, 2008), 5% pay raises instituted by the Town Board for employees of the Town, originally effective December 3, 2008, were made retroactive to December 1st, 2008 by a majority vote.
It appears that there was a certain amount of paperwork and mathematics required to figure out the 3 days worth of wages at the old rate for a few employees therefore prompting an agenda entry to address the issue and request that the Board merely pass a motion to make the pay increase retroactive.
Read the entire article here
5% Pay Hike UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
The State of Oklahoma’s Constitution states in Article 23-10, Section XXIII-10:
“Except wherein otherwise provided in this Constitution, in no case shall the salary or emoluments {compensation received by virtue of holding an office} of any public official be changed after his (her) election or appointment, or during his (her) term of office, unless by operation of law enacted prior to such election or appointment…”
What’s this you ask?
We are of the opinion that the Town of Buffalo’s trusted elected officials violated their own State’s Constitution when they gave the Town Clerk and the Town Treasurer a pay hike in December of 2008.
The Trustees of Buffalo Oklahoma also face another dilemma. The Statutes of Oklahoma require, according to:
§11 12 113. Compensation of town elective officers.
The compensation of all elective town officers shall be fixed by ordinance.
The Statute reads:
The compensation of elective town officers shall be fixed by ordinance.
The definition of “shall” when used within the State Statutes is: MUST
Can you say Monkey Wrench?
The *treasurer and *clerk of Buffalo can only receive a pay increase if an ordinance is either passed or amended and voted upon and then the raise can only go into effect after an election.
There is an exception as a result of Town Ordinance 329 which allows for an adjustment every July based on other employee raises.
That means that if the current treasurer is re-elected in April, 2009, she may then, beginning on July 1st, and only then, receive a raise.
The Town Trustees were prompted to amend the prior ordinance (329) which allowed for the adjustment of the salaries of the Clerk and Treasurer but declined. If the old one wasn’t to be amended, then they could have eliminated the old one and passed a new ordinance setting the new salaries, but that was not what the Board did. Instead they simply passed a motion for all employees to receive a 5% pay increase.
Inside Buffalo would like to know if this has taken place previously. Have unconstitutional pay hikes been instituted in the past without reference to the State Constitution? If this has occurred in the past, prior to an election, and the pay raise was put into effect before the next July 1 adjustment date, we estimate that those raises were against the State Constitution as well.
Some Buffalo residents are calling for a return of those wages, by the elected officials, to the Town until this can be resolved.If there are monies due the clerk and treasurer, give them those monies as well
Inside Buffalo is confident this Constitutional dilemma will be resolved amicably and that the Town’s elected Board will do what’s best for the Town in a prompt manner.
*The treasurer and clerk's raises in this instance, we opine, are applicable to their statutory salaries and not their 'at will' compensation. Other employees, those not elected, are unaffected by the unconstitutional dilemma.
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