Judge rules in favor of Polk County Treasurer Steve Milligan
A Yamhill County judge has ruled only the Polk County treasurer can decide to delegate the duties of the job assigned by the state constitution and that the county has to reimburse the current treasurer for attorney and court fees in his lawsuit against the county.
Judge Ladd Wiles’s Tuesday ruling said Polk County has to pay Treasurer Steve Milligan the $42,500 in attorney fees and $517 in court costs he incurred in his lawsuit challenging the county moving most of the treasurer’s responsibilities to an appointed financial manager.
Milligan also had sought $300,000 in back pay, but Wiles declined to award him any money, saying the county determines compensation. Milligan currently is paid $1,000 a month.
Salaries for elected leaders in Polk County are determined by its compensation committee, which are the three appointed members of the county’s budget committee.
Polk County Administrative Officer Greg Hansen said the pay for the treasurer will be approved in January or February and eventually adopted by the county commissioners.
Milligan was elected to the position in 2020 and reelected in the Nov. 5 general election.
Wiles said Polk County’s resolution from 2016 — and the nearly identical ordinance it adopted earlier this year — handing many of the treasurer’s job duties to a paid financial manager are “unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable.”
“Absent the consent of the Polk County treasurer, actions to disempower and remove from the elected treasurer the authority, responsibilities, or function of the office under the Oregon Constitution or statute, and to reassign such constitutional or statutory authority, responsibilities, or functions to an unelected employee who is not hired by and does not report to the treasurer, are unlawful,” Wiles wrote in his decision.
That means that Milligan will be able to do the job immediately.
He said he intends to find the job responsibilities of the last elected treasurer and use that as a base for the functions of the job.
“And so it basically puts that I could hire and fire and have supervisory authority in that department,” Milligan said.
Hansen said the county commissioners would repeal the resolution and ordinance at an upcoming meeting.
Commissioner Craig Pope on Wednesday said county leaders haven’t decided if they will appeal Wiles’ decision.
“We’ve been waiting for this decision to happen,” Pope said.
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at [email protected]
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