Incomes of county chancery and circuit clerks released recentlyby the Mississippi Auditor’s Office show median salaries forSouthwest Mississippi officials.

Southwest Mississippi Chancery Clerks Doug Touchtone of PikeCounty, Tommy O’Beirne of Adams County, Tillmon Bishop of LincolnCounty, Jimmy Jones of Franklin County and Ronny Taylor of AmiteCounty were among 50 of the state’s 82 chancery clerks to top$100,000 in take-home pay during 2005, according to the stateauditor’s report. Two clerks, Sam Abraham of Leflore County andDorothy Jean Ford-Smith of Holmes County, took home more than$200,000 statewide.

Chancery and circuit clerks’ salaries are based on fees paid totheir offices for services they provide to people, courts andcounty governments and can vary widely according to their use.Clerks keep any remaining funds once expenses are paid.

Chancery clerks perform a variety of services, which includeprocessing lawsuits filed in chancery court, handling wills andacting as county administrators for the county board ofsupervisors.

Salaries earned by chancery clerks in Southwest Mississippiranged from Touchtone’s $131,815 to Lawrence County’s KevinRayborn, who took home $84,226.

A cap of $90,000 was set for chancery and circuit clerks bylawmakers in 2004, raising it from the former ceiling of $83,160.However, certain payments are exempt from the ceiling if the clerkalso serves as a comptroller or administrator.

The audit department reported his earnings as $113,044, butBishop said he earned approximately $108,000.

“I’m not sure why that is,” he said, “but I know ($113,000) isnot right.”

Bishop said he earns additional funding through restoration ofpublic records fees.

“The statute allows for a certain amount for the restoration ofrecords,” he said.

Circuit clerks’ duties include processing circuit court cases,registering voters, managing elections and issuing marriagelicenses.

At $97,192, Lincoln County’s Terry Lynn Watkins brought home themost money in Southwest Mississippi among circuit clerks. AdamsCounty’s Binky Vines took home the least at a salary of$36,809.

A majority of a circuit clerk’s income derives from courtduties, Watkins said. They are paid $1 a page to record courtminutes and paid for their time in the courtroom. Othercourt-related fees include such items as $1 per jury summonsissued.

Passports and criminal search fees are not covered by the$90,000 cap set by lawmakers in 2004, Watkins said.

“We do a lot of passports and a good many criminal searches,”she said.

Watkins said her salary most likely topped that of Pike County’sRoger Graves, who earned $95,770, because although Pike Countyreceives many more criminal cases than Lincoln County, Graves alsomust pay for more employees from his earnings.

Additionally, the clerks said, their offices are allotted acertain number of employees at county expense, but the number isoften not sufficient for the clerks to operate it efficiently.

Bishop said his staff includes one full-time employee paid forby the county. The salaries of four full-time and one part-timeemployee are paid partially through the fee system and partly fromhis earnings, he said.

Watkins said she pays the salary of one full-time and twopart-time employees from her own earnings.

Also, they said, the reported figures represent gross salary anddoes not include deductions for taxes or retirement, insurance andother benefits.