Troup County Tax Commissioner Gary Wood appears headed for a legal fight with the County Commission over a budget cut that would require him to lose half of an employee’s time.

In a letter Monday, Wood asked the board to provide a lawyer to represent him in the dispute. Wood expected the commission to deny the request, which it did unanimously after about an hour in closed session Tuesday.

“I regret having to make this request, but I feel the commissioners are using excessive use of power in trying to dictate the efficiency of the tax office,” Wood said in the two-sentence letter.

Wood said he’ll pay legal fees out of his own pocket if necessary “because I think it’s that important to have (county residents’) tax office protected from the county commissioners.”

The board had suggested eliminating the one part-time staffer in human resources and having an employee in Wood’s office split duties between both departments, saving $14,874 in fiscal 2010 starting July 1 and cutting Wood’s budget by 3.6 percent.

“We don’t have the constitutional authority to require him to do anything,” Commission Chairman Ricky WoIfe said after Tuesday’s meeting. “It was a suggestion that came out of a conversation on how to reduce costs and meet another need.”

Wolfe said he has “great respect for constitutional officers and it’s important to note that we in no way dictated to Gary Wood that he eliminate half of an employee. We suggested it was possibly one way” to accomplish the budget reduction.

Wood said he’d like to reduce his budget by $14,000, but “I don’t have that to cut without cutting an employee in half.”

The commission had required all departments to reduce spending in the new budget by 5 percent because of projected revenue shortfalls. Most departments complied, but others fell short and the property appraisers’ office went up 9 percent because of upgrades and an in-house revaluation of the county’s 30,000 parcels.

Wood came up with a 1 percent reduction, but seemed resigned to 5 percent in an April 22 memo to County Manager Mike Dobbs.

“Due to the reduction in my staff for 2009-2010 budget, I must find ways to restructure job duties,” he said in the memo, suggesting that all homestead exemption applications go to the tax appraisers office to give some relief to “my now understaffed office.” Dobbs wrote back the next day, saying he agreed with the idea.

On May 4, Wood wrote to finance officer Stewart Mills, saying, “After considerable thought I have reversed my decision to eliminate an employee from the tax office.” Wood said he operates with less staff than other counties Troup’s size and “to eliminate an employee would reduce the customer service as well as impact our collection process.”

Next came the letter requesting the County Commission give him legal counsel over the dispute.

“It’s my understanding they have to provide a constitutional officer with counsel when the constitutional officer has been abused by county commissioners,” Wood said.

He said the tax office was “deplorable” eight years ago and he’s turned things around, but now “they’re trying to make me back pedal.”

Bill Gilmore of West Point, a regular at County Commission meetings, told board members that it appeared Wood was “holding the county hostage” and “I don’t need to be waited on right away” when he goes to the tax office.

“I find it amazing our commissioners would want to interfere with an office as efficient as the tax office,” Wood said. “I am also very surprised they would try and demand I share my employee with another office. What they’re trying to do is an abuse of power upon a constitutional office, which belongs of to the public, not the commissioners.”

He said the commissioners “need to focus on the issues they are responsible for and leave the office of other elected officials in the hands of those who were elected to run them.”

“I regret having to take a stance against the county commissioners,” he said, “but they have over-stepped their bounds and I feel a responsibility to the citizens of Troup County to protect against the potential abuse of their tax office.”

County attorney Jerry Willis said he would have a conflict of interest to represent Wood in a lawsuit against the County Commission. The board would therefore have to hire outside counsel and maybe a judge from outside the circuit.

“This would cost tens of thousands of tax dollars,” Commissioner Richard English said, moving to deny the request.

Dobbs said it’s the first time in his 31 years with the county that an elected official has asked the board for an attorney to sue the board.

“This is charting new territory,” Dobbs said.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.