This matter originated as a complaint in mandamus whereby President Judge Edwin Snyder (hereinafter referred to as
Before discussing the merits of the Plaintiffs claim, we provide the following background. Any budget for the Jefferson County court system is first filed with the County Commissioners, who are given an opportunity to review it. The County Commissioners determine whether to adopt the non-salary portion of the budget, while the salary portion is formally implemented by the Salary Board. The Salary Board includes the three County Commissioners, the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County, and the County Treasurer. The 1989 fiscal year budget that the Plaintiff submitted contained a 5% increase for all salaries of court employees. The Salary Board denied this request and instead fixed salaries for all county employees, including court personnel, at 1988 levels. This complaint was filed in order to compel payment of the amount that was refused. 2
adjustments to this list in order to reflect appropriations that were made and other developments that took place after this suit was filed. The Plaintiff did not take exception to any of these adjustments. The following table summarizes the positions for which the Master made the finding that appropriations fell short of budget requests.
Office Requested Appropriated Difference
Court Administrator $ 21,770 $ 20,743 $1,027
Judge’s Secretary 16,867 16,071 796 3
Domestic Relations Director 21,034 20,042 992
Chief Adult Probation Department 26,190 23,696 2,494
Chief Juvenile Justice Department 24,350 23,201 1,149
$110,211 $103,753 $6,458
The Plaintiff arrived at his salary requests by relying on a salary schedule first adopted by the Commissioners in 1986. Developed by the Pennsylvania Economy League, the schedule consisted of ranges of salaries for thirty job classifications. Within each range, there were seven steps, each of which represented an increase of approximately 5% over the preceding step. During the first year the schedule went into effect, each employee was assigned to a classification level based on job responsibilities and a step corresponding to his/her experience. In the two subsequent years, the Plaintiff requested salaries corresponding to the next step in the range to which an individual was assigned. He followed the same procedure to prepare his 1989 salary budget proposal. However, whereas his two earlier requests were granted, his 1989 request was denied.
The foundation of the salary schedule was a study conducted by the Pennsylvania Economy League. At the county’s request, it surveyed eight public and private sector employers
Court to declare whether or not the items were reasonably necessary when they were originally denied. We see no purpose in doing so when relief is neither sought nor available. Rather, we will confine our discussion to an examination of salary increases that were denied.
Both the 1986 and 1988 salary scales and the accompanying reports were introduced into evidence to support the Plaintiff’s salary requests. The Plaintiff also attempted to justify his salary requests by pointing to a desire to avoid generating an “atmosphere of uncertainty” that could lead to staff departures and have a negative effect on morale and intensity level. He also made general references to an increase in the court’s caseload, but offered no specific figures or statistics in support thereof.
The Master denied the salary requests. In reaching his conclusion,-the Master explained that while the surveys and salary scales could be used to determine the reasonable necessity of salary requests, the information had to be considered in conjunction with evidence relating to the court’s entire dispute resolution process. However, in his view, that evidence was not supplied. He placed greatest emphasis on the Plaintiffs failure to be more specific with respect to the court’s past, present and projected case load as well as the case disposition rate. The Master described this data as “critical” information, without which he could not conclude that the Plaintiff met his burden of proof. It was on that basis that the Master denied relief. 4
The Plaintiff registers three complaints about the Master’s Report. First, he argues that the Master in effect required the court to show that the funding being requested was absolutely necessary, not simply reasonably necessary. Sec
We recently described the kind of evidence a plaintiff court must provide in order to meet its burden of proving the reasonable necessity of its salary requests. In
Lavelle v. Koch, 532
Pa. 631,
[generally, a court seeking salary increases will meet its burden by showing that its proposed salaries are reasonably necessary to attract and retain qualified people. This Court cannot make that determination without knowing how current and proposed salaries compare with those offered by other employers with whom the court competes.
Id.
at 636,
Our analysis in
Lavelle
recognized that the exercise of the inherent judicial power to compel funding is reserved for exceptional cases in which a legislative act poses “a
genuine threat
to the administration of justice, that is, [there must be] a nexus between the legislative act and the injury to the judiciary, not merely a theoretical encroachment by the legislature.”
Beckert v. Warren,
We emphasize that this Court cannot uncritically accept the evidence offered to establish the reasonable necessity
We protect against the hazards of tyranny by invalidating acts by one branch which compromise the independent, coequal status of another. Thus, in certain circumstances, the legislature’s refusal to provide funds requested by the judiciary is a separation of powers violation because the legislative act interferes with the administration of justice. By the same token, the judiciary commits a separation of powers violation if it exercises a legislative power. We run the risk of doing just that when we order the legislature to fund the judiciary. After all, the spending power resides exclusively with the legislature, and the only time the judiciary acquires the power to compel funding is when it cannot independently and adequately administer justice because the legislature has not provided it with the funds to do so.
Beckert v. Warren,
After scrutinizing the evidence the Plaintiff offered in this case, we conclude that he has not met his burden of proof. The most substantial evidence he offered was the 1986 and 1988 surveys conducted by the Pennsylvania Economy League. However, those reports are insufficient to support his contention that his salary requests were reasonably necessary because they do not indicate what the surveyed employers were paying their employees. In the absence of that information, we are unable to assess whether the court’s ability to attract and retain qualified employees is sufficiently impaired such that we can take the extraordinary step of exercising our inherent powers to compel funding.
Nevertheless, the Plaintiff urges us to accept the conclusions of the Pennsylvania Economy League. Its reports claim that the proposed salary scales reflect salaries that would enable the government of Jefferson County to compete successfully with surveyed employers. While those conclusions are persuasive, they are not dispositive in this case. This is primarily because in order to arrive at figures it claims to reflect competitive salaries, the Pennsylvania Economy League relied on data collected from employers with whom the Jefferson County Court of Common PÍeas does not appear to compete. Specifically, of the nine employers responding to the 1986 survey, four are located outside Jefferson County and its adjacent counties.
5
Of the eleven employers responding to the 1988 survey, five are located outside Jefferson County and
By making these observations, we do not mean to suggest what the geographical boundaries of a labor market should be. Indeed, each case would involve its own unique set of boundaries, if any exist. However, in this instance we have serious doubts as to whether the surveyed employers actually compete in the same labor market from which the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas draws its workers. Furthermore, the Plaintiff offers no argument or- evidence that removes those doubts from our minds. 7 Under these circumstances, we cannot say that he has offered an adequate basis upon which we can determine whether his court’s salary requests are reasonably necessary. Therefore, we conclude that he has not met his burden of proving reasonable necessity. Since that precondition for exercising this Court’s inherent power to compel funding has not been satisfied, we must deny relief.
The Plaintiff also requests attorneys fees and costs. However, we must also deny this request. As a general rule, a litigant cannot recover counsel fees from an adverse party unless there is express statutory authorization, a clear agreement of the parties, or some other established exception:
Chatham Communications, Inc. v. General Press Corp.,
Notes
. Judge Silvestri is now a Senior Judge on the Commonwealth Court.
. The original complaint also sought to compel payment of amounts refused for certain capital expenses. However, the Plaintiff later proposed that the Master conclude that those requests had been resolved. The Master concluded that the requests for capital outlays had been satisfied in one way or another. The Plaintiff nevertheless urges this
. This figure incorrectly appeared as 791 in the Master’s Report.
. The Master also noted that the Plaintiffs opinions regarding the consequences of an atmosphere of uncertainty were defied by his testimony. The Plaintiff admitted that none of the affected personnel threatened to quit. He also testified that the court’s work was not impaired.
. Those four are Bradford County, Carbon County, Tioga County and Venango County. The other employers were Clarion County, Clearfield County, Indiana County, the Brookville Area School District and the Punxsatawny Area Hospital.
. Those five are Bradford County, Carbon County, Huntington County, McKean County and Venango County. The other employers were Clearfield County, Elk County, Indiana County, Brookville Area School District, Brookville Hospital and Punxsatawny Area Hospital.
. The Master’s analysis was misdirected because instead of questioning the reliability of the Pennsylvania Economy League’s reports, he inquired into the court’s case load and case disposition rate. That information is of little assistance when assessing whether salaries are set at sufficiently competitive levels.
. The Plaintiff and Amicus argue that the costs associated with bringing this suit are themselves reasonably necessary for the proper functioning