Could a Kentucky circuit clerk count county law librarian pay toward county retirement?
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This page answers the general question as of 1994. Ask about yours and see what current Kentucky law means for your facts, with citations you can check.
Plain-English summary
In 1994, Kentucky's Attorney General reaffirmed that a circuit court clerk could not count pay for ex officio service as county law librarian as creditable compensation in either the County Employees Retirement System (CERS) or Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS). The requester questioned an assumption about KERS in the earlier opinion; the AG observed that it had discussed CERS in less detail. It treated the librarian role as part-time and pointed to CERS's exclusion of part-time workers from the statutory employee definition.
The AG also said provisions for merging credit earned in different retirement systems or purchasing certain service credit did not make this librarian pay creditable. Those mechanisms presupposed eligible service or specific statutory purchase authority, neither of which the office found for the part-time librarian role.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1994. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Historical summary
Circuit clerks serving as county law librarians
KRS 172.110(1), as quoted in the opinion, made the circuit clerk ex officio county law librarian and provided a modest monthly salary. The AG inferred from that pay and role that the librarian work was part-time. It said this separate pay could not be added to the clerk's CERS or KERS retirement compensation.
County Employees Retirement System
The opinion quoted KRS 78.510(13)'s creditable-compensation definition and KRS 78.510(6)'s definition of employee. The latter excluded part-time workers. Because the AG classified ex officio librarian work as part-time, it found the salary outside CERS creditable compensation.
Merged and purchased service credit
The AG explained that merged credit concerned compensation already creditable in two systems, not pay that never qualified. It also found no statutory route to purchase retirement credit for this part-time librarian service, distinguishing the specific purchase provisions for other kinds of service.
Common questions
Could the librarian salary count toward CERS because a county paid it?
The AG said no. It treated the librarian role as part-time, and the CERS definition quoted in the opinion excluded part-time workers.
Did the opinion change the earlier conclusion about KERS?
No. It reaffirmed OAG 93-75's conclusion that the pay was not creditable in KERS or CERS.
Could merged credit make the part-time pay count?
No. The AG said merged credit applied where service was already creditable in two systems, which this librarian pay was not.
Could the clerk buy credit for the librarian service instead?
The AG found no provision authorizing purchase of credit for the part-time service described.
Background and statutory framework
The requester asked the office to revisit OAG 93-75, particularly its CERS reasoning. The AG reviewed KRS 172.110(1)'s librarian role and pay, KRS 78.510's CERS definitions, and KRS 78.605(1)'s credit provisions. It concluded that retirement credit depended on statutory eligibility, and the librarian salary did not qualify under either system as the office read the 1994 law.
Citations and references
- KRS 172.110(1): circuit clerk's ex officio county law librarian role and salary.
- KRS 78.510(6): CERS employee definition excluding part-time workers.
- KRS 78.510(13): CERS creditable compensation definition.
- KRS 78.605(1): merged or purchased credit discussion in the opinion.
- OAG 93-75: earlier opinion reaffirmed.
Source
Original opinion text
OAG 94-45
June 27, 1994
Hon. James M. Groves
Circuit Court Clerk
Todd County Courthouse
Elkton, Kentucky 42220
Re: Whether Sum Paid by County, to Circuit Court Clerk as Ex Officio County Law Librarian, May Be Credited to County Employees Retirement System (CERS).
Dear Mr. Groves:
By letter of April 19, 1994, you asked that this office review its previous opinion, OAG (Opinion of the Attorney General) 93-75. That opinion principally addressed whether payments by a county fiscal court to the circuit court clerk, as ex officio county law librarian (KRS 172.110(1)), could be credited in relation to a circuit court clerk's Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) retirement account. The opinion indicated that such payments could not be so credited. The opinion also indicated that such sums could not be credited in relation to the County Employees Retirement System (CERS).
We have reviewed OAG 93-75, and related statutes, pursuant to your request. We believe OAG 93-75 accurately states the law governing whether sums paid to a circuit clerk as ex officio county law librarian may be lawfully credited to either the KERS or CERS. In our view, sums paid to a circuit court clerk, for the clerk's services as ex officio county law librarian, cannot be lawfully credited in relation to either system. Discussion follows.
Background
Your letter indicates, in substance and in part, that, in OAG 93-75 we responded to a question based on an incorrect assumption that the sum paid to a circuit court clerk, as ex officio county law librarian (KRS 172.110(1)), should be credited to the Kentucky Employees Retirement system (KERS). If we understand it correctly, your letter suggests that the correct question is whether such sum should be credited to the County Employees Retirement System (CERS). Your letter does not challenge the finding, in OAG 93-75, that salary paid to a circuit court clerk as county law librarian is not "creditable compensation" in relation to the Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS). Additionally, your letter notes, service credit in two retirement systems is provided for, as is, under certain circumstances, purchase of credit for military service.
As pointed out in OAG 93-75, retirement systems being creatures of statute, whether given sums may be credited to a retirement system depends on whether the sums are "creditable compensation" under the statutes governing a given system.
OAG 93-75, by express reference to the applicable statutes, stated why, from a legal perspective, monies paid to a circuit clerk, as ex officio county law librarian, could not be credited to either the KERS or the CERS. OAG 93-75, however, provided, somewhat greater detail concerning whether the payments in question could be credited in relation to KERS, than it did in finding that the payments could not be credited in relation to the CERS.
"Creditable Compensation" in CERS
Concerning crediting the payments in question to the County Employees Retirement System (CERS), KRS 172.110(1) provides that:
The circuit clerk shall be ex officio librarian of the county law library, and he shall see that county and state officials have access to the library at reasonable hours each day except Sunday and holidays. He shall receive a salary of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) per month for his services as librarian.
"Creditable compensation" in the CERS, is defined, in part pertinent here, in KRS 78.510(13), as "all salary, . . . paid to the employee as a result of services performed for the employer . . . ."
"Employee," in relation to the CERS, in part pertinent here, is defined in KRS 78.510(6) as follows:
'Employee' means every regular full-time appointed or elective officer or employee of a participating county . . . . The term shall not include persons engaged as independent contractors, seasonal, emergency, temporary, and part-time workers.
Application of Statutes
In our view the nominal salary provided for the circuit clerk's services as ex officio county law librarian (KRS 172.110(1), above), clearly indicates that such services are provided on a part-time basis. KRS 78.510(6) (see above) excludes part-time workers from the definition of "employee" as used in the definition of "creditable compensation" (KRS 78.510(13)) within the CERS. Accordingly, the circuit court clerk, as a part-time worker as ex officio county law librarian, is not eligible to have the salary for part-time work credited in relation to the CERS.
Merged Credit, Purchase of Credit
As to the points about "merged credit" and "purchase of credit," neither affects the determination above.
"Merged credit" applies to the circumstance of "creditable compensation" obtained in two separate retirement systems. See, for example, KRS 78.605(1). In an example given in your letter, it appeared likely that a full-time deputy county clerk had "creditable compensation" in relation to CERS, in such full-time position, and later had what presumably was full-time service with the Cabinet for Human Resources, creditable under KERS. As pointed out in OAG 93-75, and in this opinion, the payment for part-time work as ex officio county law librarian does not constitute "creditable compensation" within the meaning of applicable statutes.
Regarding purchase of retirement service credit, although credit may be purchased in relation to other employment under specific statutory terms, for example, military service, (See KRS 78.605(1)), there is no provision authorizing purchase of credit for part-time service under the facts here involved.
CHRIS GORMAN
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Gerard R. Gerhard
Assistant Attorney General
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