District Attorney Larry Moore said Thursday his office is looking into allegations that Webbers Falls officials are in violation of state constitution provisions regarding their salaries.

The constitution and statutes governing towns prohibit elected officials from giving themselves a raise during their term. If a salary or a raise is set, the action must be taken before the election, Moore said.

If violations are found, officials could face criminal prosecution and be required to make restitution to the town, Moore said.

No town ordinances setting salaries can be found before May 8, 2007, said Town Clerk Susan Dwyer.

That ordinance sets the town trustee salaries at $550 per month and the mayor’s salary at $1,100 per month.

However, all of the trustees signing that ordinance had been elected before it was passed, according to county Election Board records.

If no ordinance was in effect before their election, none of the trustees was eligible to receive a salary, Moore said.

Dwyer said she can find no previous ordinance, but she has found payroll records as far back as 2001 that show trustees were paid $550 per month.

Jewell Horne draws $2,650 per month as mayor, plus the town pays her health insurance, she said in an interview earlier this year.

Horne had served as mayor for several years, then as a trustee after the 2007 election until she was voted back in as mayor last year.

Horne said the mayor’s salary of $2,650 plus health insurance goes back for some time.

“How far back, I really don’t know,” Horne said.

Stan Cowan, who was mayor after the 2007 election until she was reinstated, also drew that salary, she said.

Dwyer said is her understanding that Horne receives the $1,100 per month as mayor. The other $1,500 Horne receives is for serving as the town’s manager, conducting the town’s day-to-day business.

However, Dwyer said she has not been able to find any minutes or contracts giving the mayor that extra-duty pay.

The trustees adopted another ordinance May 8, 2009, setting the salary for the trustees at $550 per month, the mayor at $650 per month and the town clerk/treasurer at $450 per month.

Trustees Matt Myers, Sonny Tipkin and Dennis Berton voted for the measure. Horne voted no.

If the state constitution is followed and no other ordinances are found, only Berton, who was elected April 7, 2009, could legally receive salary as a trustee or mayor. Berton would be covered by the ordinance passed May 8, 2007.

Two council members to be chosen in a July 14 special election would fall under the ordinance adopted May 8, 2009, Moore said.

Dwyer said it is possible there are some ordinances not on file at the Town Hall, that she is not certain all the records that were at the old Town Hall were moved to the new facility last year.

She said she did find an ordinance from several years ago setting the town clerk/treasurer salary at $450 per month, the same as it is today.

When she filed for and was elected to the job, she thought the salary was $1,100 per month, Dwyer said. That is what her predecessor, LaVon Johnson was paid. Johnson had been appointed clerk/treasurer after the death of her husband, who had held the position. LaVon Johnson drew the same pay as her husband.

Town records show, however, that $450 of his pay was for the clerk/treasurer’s job and the balance was for an extra-duty contract under which he did mowing and other maintenance work, Dwyer said.

Had she known the clerk/treasurer’s job paid so little, she might not have sought the office, Dwyer said.

Moore said there is no limit as to how far back investigators may go in determining whether there were illegally paid salaries.



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