New Trustee Ed Shouse sets budget

Ed Shouse

Newly sworn-in Knox County Trustee Ed Shouse has put together his budget and it looks pretty much like the one his predecessor, Craig Leuthold, filed except for one thing: Shouse submitted a letter of agreement – not a salary suit.

Without getting into the details, the fee officers typically submit salary suits, an archaic form of budget-setting paperwork in which the officeholder sues the county mayor.

At this point, I think county Clerk Foster Arnett Jr. is the only other fee officer to do the letter thing, although I’ve heard that the new criminal court clerk, Mike Hammond, also will do one.

There’s really not a lot of difference. I think the salary suit probably costs $1,000 to file, so I suppose there’s some savings there. And the letter of agreement is a little easier to ready.

Anyhoo, Shouse has said at this point he doesn’t want to make too many changes, particularly with tax season right around the corner. The combined salaries in his office aren't expected to exceed $2 million.

We’ll see after that.

Here’s a look at Leuthold’s salary suit RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Shouse’s letter of agreement RIGHT SMACK HERE.