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2007 South Carolina Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2007)

handle is hein.sag/sagsc0004 and id is 1 raw text is: January 8, 2007 The Honorable Keith Sloan Vice Chairman, Barnwell County Council County Agricultural Building, Office No. 105 Barnwell, South Carolina 29812 Dear Mr. Sloan: We received your letter requesting an opinion on behalf of the Barnwell County Council (County Council) concerning its authority to make budget reductions affecting offices of elected officials and how such reductions should be enforced. According to your letter, County Council is contemplating significant budget reductions over the next serval years. You stated: These cuts will most likely require reductions in staff. These reductions in staff will be from county operations and offices of elected officials. Furthermore, you add: As I understand, state law specifically prohibits county councils from terminating employees of elected officials. Given this fact, if reductions in budget allocations to offices of elected officials can only be met by reductions in staff of the office(s), and the elected official(s) is (are) unwilling to make such reductions, exactly what are the methodologies available to county councils to enforce budget restrictions? Would it be acceptable to advise the affected official(s) that they must reduce staff to stay within the approved budget for their office, and lacking specific instructions from the elected official as to the personnel to be terminated, council make appropriate across- the-board reductions to salary of all personnel in their office, excluding the elected official, to meet budget allocations? If this is not acceptable, and given the fact that state law requires councils to fund necessary utilities, supplies, equipment, etc. for offices of elected officials, exactly what other methods are available to county councils to enforce budget limitations on elected officials? Law/Analysis In your letter, you mentioned a state law provision prohibiting a county from terminating employees of elected officials. This provision, which is part of the Home Rule legislation, is found

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