Canarecci, county settle lawsuit

By ED RONCO, Tribune Staff Writer

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St. Joseph County Sheriff Frank Canarecci

St. Joseph County Sheriff Frank Canarecci (WSBT file photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Jun 16, 2009 at 11:20 AM EST

Story Updated: Jun 16, 2009 at 11:20 AM EST

SOUTH BEND — Sheriff Frank Canarecci and St. Joseph County have reached an agreement in a lawsuit over Canarecci’s pay.

Canarecci had sued the county for reducing his pay, after county officials discovered Canarecci was keeping tax warrant collection fees his office brought in.

Sheriffs are allowed to do that under Indiana law, but the county said Canarecci was doing so without their knowledge, and was being overcompensated.

In 2007, Canarecci was earning a base salary of $124,893 plus $74,176 in collection fees. His total income was about $199,069.

County officials reduced his salary to $49,893 for 2008, which with the addition of $64,397 in tax warrant fees, brought his income to about $114,290.

The deal signed off on by county commissioners Monday keeps Canarecci at the reduced pay rate with the tax warrant fees through 2009, said Mark Boveri, of Boveri Murphy Rice law firm, which represented the county.

Boveri said the county should end up recouping about 85 percent of what it said Canarecci was overpaid.

For 2010 — the last year of Canarecci’s term — he’ll earn about $12,000 less than county Prosecutor Michael Dvorak. Details on exact numbers were not immediately available.

All three county commissioners voted in favor of the settlement, though Commissioner Robert Kovach, D-3rd, said in his opinion, it never should have come to this point.

"The county legally acted through a salary ordinance," he said. "We should not have been in this situation."

Canarecci could not immediately be reached for comment.

For more on this story, check back with this Web site or see Wednesday’s South Bend Tribune.

Staff writer Ed Ronco:
eronco@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6353

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