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Judges investigating pay for sheriff’s appraisers

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By Lynn Hulsey, Staff Writer Updated 9:29 PM Tuesday, January 12, 2010

DAYTON — Montgomery County Common Pleas Court judges are investigating why the county sheriff’s property appraisers are being paid more than the minimum amount authorized by the court, according to James Drubert, court administrator.

The investigation was launched this week after Drubert discovered no record of the court authorizing the appraisers to be paid $85 per property to appraise foreclosed properties destined for sheriff’s sale. State law requires that the appraisers be paid “as the court directs,” according to the Ohio Revised Code.

“Right now the court’s going to have to take a look at this,” said Drubert.

Court records indicate the minimum rate was set at $60 per property in 1996. No records of it being increased have been found by Drubert, nor by Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Greg Brush, whose office pays the appraisers hired by the sheriff.

Brush has been paying the appraisers, who by law must work in teams of three, a minimum of $85 each per property. They can be paid more than the minimum for particularly complex properties, such as commercial structures, said Chief Deputy Mike Nolan. Documentation of additional costs is required.

The payments to appraisers are based on paperwork signed by the appraisers and Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer, said Brush. He plans to seek an opinion from the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s office before disbursing further payments at the $85 rate.

The sheriff’s 11 appraisers were paid $1.3 million to do 14,128 appraisals in 2009. Most earned six figures, with the highest-paid appraiser making $151,456.

The payments come from court fees paid by lawyers for banks and mortgage companies in foreclosure cases.

All of the appraisers have connections to Plummer, his office, or his Republican political party. One is his sister, Kimberly Solomon of Butler Twp., who he temporarily removed on Friday after the Dayton Daily News questioned her employment. Plummer is seeking an Ohio Ethics Commission opinion on the legality and ethics of employing Solomon, who was hired by former Sheriff David Vore in 2005 when Plummer was his chief deputy. Last year she was paid $141,763.

Plummer denies that politics or favoritism plays a part in the hiring of appraisers, nine of whom were hired before he became sheriff in 2008.

Drubert randomly pulled sheriff’s sale paperwork and found Vore signed for appraisers to be paid $80 each in 2000 and $85 in 2002. No paperwork has yet been found indicating court authorization of the higher payments.

Brush and his predecessor, Dan Foley, now Montgomery County Commission president, said they have no idea how the fee was raised.

“What we pay is what the sheriff contract employees put down that we’re supposed to pay them, which bears the sheriff’s signature on that form,” Brush said. “It had to be initiated from the sheriff’s office.”

Plummer did not return a call seeking comment and Vore could not be reached.

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