Carolina Journal’s David Bass reports today on what happens when you make a public records request for local government salaries. CJ’s request to multiple local governments generated fascinating comments from Sharon Scudder, an attorney for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.
Even though the association pays its employees with taxpayer dollars, it has declined to release details on its budget and salaries, claiming that it’s not a public entity and doesn’t fall under the state’s public records law. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported in July seeking information from the association on its employees’ public pensions. The paper’s efforts were rebuffed.
Scudder said that her organization hasn’t given legal advice to any of the counties on the public records request. She suggested that CJ better tailor requests “so that you’re not contributing to the fiscal irresponsibility of government.”
“Speaking with some of our big counties, your request has cost a ton of money — it really has — to try to get that kind of information,” she said. “They have a lot of employees.”
Amanda Martin, an attorney with the N.C. Press Association, said she isn’t aware of any local government claiming it doesn’t have the staff capacity to fulfill public record requests.
Who knows — maybe Ms. Scudder’s message was more provocative than she intended.
However, when entities that receive taxpayer dollars take a cavalier attitude toward people who seek transparency about how the money is being used, that’s a major red flag about the mindset at work. A key mission of the John Locke Foundation is to help citizens gain access to the workings of government. It is that mission that sparked JLF’s creation of www.NCTransparency.com. On this website you can find information about state agencies, cities, counties, and school districts.
