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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City Council overrode Mayor Tom Schneider’s veto of a bill that will lower the salary of the city’s Municipal Judge. The bill will lower that salary by $5,000 per year, after the new judge is elected.

Schneider said he vetoed the bill because “I don’t think it’s legal.” He said he had asked the St. Louis County Municipal League if there was a precedent for the bill, and the league couldn’t find one.

At issue, Schneider said, is the fact that the term for the judge is unexpired. former Judge Timothy Kelly died in office. The charter allows the council to change the salary at the end of a term.  “I’m not convinced it’s legal to change now because of the unexpired term,” Schneider said. He said it was similar to when former Mayor James Eagan passed away in office. Mayor Robert Lowery was elected to fill out the term and received the same salary.

Schneider said he was also concerned that the council might be inadvertently changing the term of the judge by changing the salary. “I don’t want it to require us to have a special election every three years in November,” he said.

Schneider said he had asked the state Attorney General for an opinion. City Attorney John Hessel agreed with the council that the salary could be changed.

“It’s a legal question, but I don’t agree with his conclusion,” Schneider said. “The fact that there is no precedent gives me pause. I don’t want to create something we have to change later. I also don’t want to permanently create a new election cycle.”

Schneider said he began to question this when legal professionals associated with the court asked him about it. He said he wanted to hear from the Attorney General. “If it’s legal, it’s legal, and I was wrong,” he said. “I just don’t want to take any chances.”

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