2021 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 6 - Superior Courts
Article 2 - Clerks of Superior Courts
§ 15-6-88. Minimum Annual Salary Schedule

1. Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the minimum annual salary of each clerk of the superior court in each county of this state shall be fixed according to the population of the county in which he or she serves, as determined by the United States decennial census of 2010 or any future such census; provided, however, that such annual salary shall be recalculated in any year following a census year in which the Department of Community Affairs publishes a census estimate for the county prior to July 1 in such year that is higher than the immediately preceding decennial census. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, each such clerk shall receive an annual salary, payable in equal monthly installments from the funds of the county, of not less than the amount fixed in the following schedule:
2. 1. Whenever the state employees subject to compensation plans authorized and approved in accordance with Code Section 45-20-4 receive a cost-of-living increase or general performance based increase of a certain percentage or a certain amount, the amounts fixed in the minimum salary schedule in subsection (a) of this Code section, in Code Section 15-6-89, and in subsection (b) of Code Section 15-10-105, or the amounts derived by increasing each of said amounts through the application of longevity increases pursuant to subsection (a) of Code Section 15-6-90, where applicable, shall be increased by the same percentage or same amount applicable to such state employees. If the cost-of-living increase or general performance based increase received by state employees is in different percentages or different amounts as to certain categories of employees, the amounts fixed in the minimum salary schedule in subsection (a) of this Code section, in Code Section 15-6-89, and in subsection (b) of Code Section 15-10-105, or the amounts derived through the application of longevity increases, shall be increased by a percentage or an amount not to exceed the average percentage or average amount of the general increase in salary granted to the state employees. The Office of Planning and Budget shall calculate the average percentage increase or average amount increase when necessary. The periodic changes in the minimum salary schedule in subsection (a) of this Code section, in Code Section 15-6-89, in subsection (b) of Code Section 15-10-105, or the amounts derived through the application of longevity increases, as authorized by this subsection, shall become effective on the first day of January following the date that the cost-of-living increases or general performance based increases received by state employees become effective; provided, however, that if the cost-of-living increases received by state employees become effective on January 1, such periodic changes in the amounts fixed in the minimum salary schedule in subsection (a) of this Code section, in Code Section 15-6-89, and in subsection (b) of Code Section 15-10-105, or the amounts derived by increasing each of said amounts through the application of longevity increases pursuant to subsection (a) of Code Section 15-6-90, shall become effective on the same date that the cost-of-living increases or general performance based increases received by state employees become effective.
   2. The amounts fixed in the minimum salary schedule in subsection (a) of this Code section shall not be increased by any state cost-of-living or general performance based increases that have been applied or are effective prior to January 1, 2020.Any state cost-of-living or general performance based increases effective on or after January 1, 2020, shall be calculated as provided in this Code section.
3. This Code section shall not be construed to reduce the salary of any clerk of the superior court in office on July 1, 1991; provided, however, that successors to such clerks in office on July 1, 1991, shall be governed by the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this Code section.
4. The county governing authority may supplement the minimum annual salary of the clerk of the superior court in such amount as it may fix from time to time; but no clerk's compensation supplement shall be decreased during any term of office. Any prior expenditure of county funds to supplement the clerk's salary in the manner authorized by this subsection is ratified and confirmed. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prohibit the General Assembly by local law from supplementing the annual salary of the clerk.

Population Minimum Salary ---------- -------------- 0 - 5,999 $ 35,576.65 6,000 - 11,889 48,856.63 11,890 - 19,999 55,344.71 20,000 - 28,999 59,296.04 29,000 - 38,999 63,247.38 39,000 - 49,999 67,203.60 50,000 - 74,999 75,327.48 75,000 - 99,999 80,855.58 100,000 - 149,999 86,381.94 150,000 - 199,999 92,237.91 200,000 - 249,999 100,722.08 250,000 - 299,999 109,336.93 300,000 - 399,999 120,695.99 400,000 - 499,999 125,596.32 500,000 or more 130,496.72

(Ga. L. 1973, p. 256, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 547, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 553, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1254, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 578, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 589, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 15; Ga. L. 1985, p. 549, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 833, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 440, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 931, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1478, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 620, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1159, § 7; Ga. L. 2001, p. 902, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 568, § 1/SB 450; Ga. L. 2009, p. 745, § 1/SB 97; Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 2-11/HB 642; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1015, § 1/SB 171; Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 15/SB 429; Ga. L. 2020, p. 526, § 1/SB 295.)

The 2019 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, in subsection (a), substituted "census of 2010" for "census of 2000" in the introductory language and modified the salary amounts in the minimum salary schedule; and, in subsection (b), designated the existing language as paragraph (b)(1), deleted "the amounts fixed in" following "The periodic changes in" at the beginning of the fourth sentence of paragraph (b)(1), and added paragraph (b)(2).

The 2020 amendments. The first 2020 amendment, effective July 29, 2020, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation twice in paragraph (b)(1); and substituted "performance based" for "performance-based" twice in paragraph (b)(2). The second 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, rewrote paragraph (b)(2) which read: "Any cost-of-living or general performance-based increases that have been applied prior to January 1, 2021, shall cease to be applied. Effective January 1, 2021, any new cost-of-living or general performance-based increases shall be calculated as provided in this Code section."

- Further provisions regarding compensation of clerks of superior court, § 15-1-12.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1988, "become effective" was substituted for "becomes effective" at the end of subsection (b) (now (b)(1)).

- Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 54(e)/SB 429, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, effective July 29, 2020, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "In the event of an irreconcilable conflict between a provision in Sections 1 through 53 of this Act and a provision of another Act enacted at the 2020 regular session of the General Assembly, the provision of such other Act shall control over the conflicting provision in Sections 1 through 53 of this Act to the extent of the conflict." Accordingly, the amendments to paragraph (b)(2) of Code Section 15-6-88 by Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 15(6)/SB429, were not given effect.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Entitlement to county cost of living adjustments.

- Trial court did not err in entering an order finding the county superior court clerk was entitled to state-mandated longevity increases and state cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and to county COLAs provided by local legislation, without setting off those increases from the amount the county supplemented the clerk's salary over the statutory minimum, because the 2007 Local Act was not unconstitutional; and nothing in subsection (c) of the 2007 Local Act stated that the county COLAs required by that subsection applied only to salaries paid in accordance with the minimum set forth in subsection (a) of the 2007 Local Act. Chatham County v. Massey, 299 Ga. 595, 791 S.E.2d 85 (2016).

- 2007 Local Act was not unconstitutional based on the fact that subsection (a) of the 2007 Local Act authorized the superior court clerk to be paid less than what was required by O.C.G.A. § 15-6-88 because, according to the statute's plain language, the 2007 Local Act did not establish $56,000 as the salary for the clerk as the statute simply stated that the clerk's salary could not be less than $56,000; thus, it was not inconsistent on its face with the terms of the statute requiring a clerk to be paid no less than the amount set by the county population schedule set forth in § 15-6-88. Chatham County v. Massey, 299 Ga. 595, 791 S.E.2d 85 (2016).

According to the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 15-6-88, the 2007 Local Act does not establish $56,000 as the salary for the clerk. It simply states that the clerk's salary may not be less than $56,000; consequently, it is not inconsistent on its face with the terms of the general statute requiring a clerk to be paid no less than the amount set by the county population schedule set forth in the statute, and is not unconstitutional. Chatham County v. Massey, 299 Ga. 595, 791 S.E.2d 85 (2016).

- Order finding that the county court clerk was entitled not only to state-mandated longevity increases and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) but also to county COLAs provided by local legislation was affirmed because O.C.G.A. § 15-6-88 was constitutional and applied to the court clerk's compensation, entitling the court clerk to both. Chatham County v. Massey, 299 Ga. 595, 791 S.E.2d 85 (2016).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Salary for person both superior and state court clerk.

- Legislature intended that minimum salary of person serving as both superior court clerk and state court clerk be the sum of the amounts fixed by Ga. L. 1973, p. 256, §§ 1 and 2 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 15-6-88 and15-6-89). 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U73-42.

- If the census puts a superior court clerk in a higher minimum annual salary bracket, that salary relates back to the effective date of the census. For a clerk who completes a four-year term on December 31, and commences a new term on January 1, the longevity increase under Ga. L. 1978, p. 937, § 1 (see now O.C.G.A. § 15-6-90) should be based on the increased minimum annual salary, inasmuch as the longevity increase serves merely to increase the applicable minimum annual salary. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U80-59.

- Cost-of-living increases for sheriffs, probate judges, clerks of superior court, tax collectors, and tax commissioners adopted by the State Personnel Board for fiscal year 1989-1990 should take the same form as the corresponding cost-of-living increases for classified employees of the Merit System so that those salaries less than $18,000 in the schedules for sheriff, clerk, probate judge, tax collector, and tax commissioner would be increased $450, the rest 21/2%. 1989 Op. Att'y Gen. 89-33.

- Superior court clerk also serving as clerk of state court who is receiving a salary under local legislation greater than the minimum provided by O.C.G.A. §§ 15-6-88 and15-6-89 is not entitled to the additional $100.00 (now $200.00) per month provided by § 15-6-89. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U81-46 (decided prior to 1984 amendment to § 15-6-89).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 15A Am. Jur. 2d, Clerks of Court, §§ 11, 12.

- 21 C.J.S., Courts, § 347.