Records, Revenues, and Reconciliation: Examining Operations of the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office

Leading up to the primary election, the Somerset-Pulaski Advocate (SPA) received questions and concerns from the public about leadership in the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office, beginning in early 2025.

In response, SPA conducted a review of publicly available audit reports, open records requests, and additional public records that were shared. This report presents a document-based analysis of those materials to provide voters with context as they evaluate the office and its operations.

It is worth noting that we could not locate a 2025 Audit and assume, based on the dates on the previous audits, that it will be available later in the year. We encourage you to do an independent search for this and other documentation mentioned and listed in this article. If we have made an error in our analysis, we have provided the means for you to alert us and send supporting documentation so we can make appropriate edits. After all, as the sharp-witted poet, Alexander Pope, once said, "To err is human; to forgive, divine."

Here is the link to perform an audit search, not just for the County Clerk, but for all state public accounts:

Online Audit Search - Auditor of Public Accounts

The 2023 and 2024 state audits of the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office both received an unmodified opinion on the regulatory basis of accounting, meaning the auditor found the financial statement fairly presented under Kentucky’s required regulatory accounting framework. However, both audits also note that the statements do not present fairly under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles because Kentucky fee-official audits use a special regulatory basis.¹²

For 2023, the Clerk’s Office reported $30,692,304 in total receipts and $29,839,599 in total disbursements, resulting in $728,320 in excess fees due to the county. The office paid $727,985 to Fiscal Court on March 12, 2024, leaving $335 due at completion of the audit.³

For 2024, the Clerk’s Office reported $30,194,972 in total receipts and $29,924,142 in total disbursements, resulting in $135,960 in excess fees due to the county. The office paid $134,638 to Fiscal Court on February 4, 2025, leaving $1,322 due at completion of the audit.⁴

A notable year-to-year change is the decline in excess fees due to the county, from $728,320 in 2023 to $135,960 in 2024—a decrease of $592,360.³⁴ 

The audits show higher operating and capital costs in 2024, including deputies’ salaries of $1,422,715, employer benefits of $417,334, lease-related costs, and capital outlay expenditures.⁴

A February 2025 report indicated that nine employees were laid off from the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office. According to the Clerk, the layoffs were driven by declining revenues, delayed vehicle renewal notices attributed to a state vendor mailing issue, and reduced vehicle transfer activity. The Clerk stated that layoffs were based on seniority (most recent hires) and not performance, and that there was no guarantee of recall. Following the layoffs, the office reported a total of 26 employees.⁸

During the same period, the Clerk requested $225,000 from Fiscal Court to cover January payroll expenses, noting that the office begins the year with no available operating funds under the fee-office structure. This type of short-term funding request was described as not unusual within that framework.⁸

The Clerk’s Office salary records show that, despite the reported revenue concerns, hourly pay rates for multiple positions increased between 2022 and 2025. In 2022, deputy clerk positions generally ranged from approximately $12.00 to $26.10 per hour, with supervisory roles such as Chief Deputy or branch managers at the upper end of that range.⁹

By 2023, pay levels had increased across several classifications, with deputy clerks commonly ranging into the $14.00–$30.00 per hour range, and management roles (including Chief Deputy and branch-level leadership) reaching approximately $30.00 per hour.¹⁰

In 2024, the upward trend continued. Deputy clerk wages reached as high as $28.50 per hour, and the Chief Deputy 

The state audits of the Pulaski County Clerk’s Office do not report material weaknesses or findings of noncompliance. At the same time, the audits, salary records, and recent reporting together present a more complex picture—one that raises legitimate questions about how the office is managing revenue variability, personnel decisions, and longer-term financial obligations.¹⁴

One of the clearest financial signals is the sharp decline in excess fees returned to the county. In 2023, the Clerk’s Office returned $728,320, while in 2024 that amount fell to $135,960—a decrease of more than $592,000 year over year.³⁴ The audits show the financial components of the change, but they do not explain the policy or management decisions behind it.⁴ This shift is significant because excess fees represent funds returned to the county and, ultimately, to the public.

Staffing and compensation trends add another layer to that picture. In early 2025, the office reduced its workforce by nine employees, citing revenue pressures and external factors affecting collections.⁸ At the same time, available salary records show a multi-year pattern of increasing hourly rates across positions, including leadership roles.⁹¹⁰¹¹¹² The records do not establish a causal relationship between these factors; however, they do show a smaller workforce operating during a period in which compensation levels increased—an alignment that may reasonably prompt questions about how staffing and compensation decisions are balanced over time. The records also do not provide context regarding cost-of-living adjustments, market conditions, or broader compensation trends that may have influenced these changes.

The structure of the office’s finances further shapes how these issues should be understood. Under Kentucky law, county fee officials are required to remit excess fees to the fiscal court annually rather than retain them for future operations.¹⁵ ¹⁶  In practice, this has required the office to request short-term financial support from Fiscal Court to cover early-year expenses, including payroll.⁸ This cash-flow dynamic is not unique to the Clerk’s Office; similar conditions can apply to other fee offices operating under the same statutory framework. However, the scale, timing, and management of these short-term funding needs remain appropriate areas for public consideration.

Earlier financial reporting provides additional context for these year-to-year changes. Records from 2022 reflect the Clerk’s Office operating within a same general multi-million-dollar fee-office revenue pattern, suggesting that the elevated excess fees reported in 2023 may not represent a long-term baseline but rather a higher point within a multi-year cycle.¹⁷

It is also important to note that the Clerk’s Office also carries statutory responsibilities for administering elections, as reflected in the review of the post-election reporting following the 2024 general election.²⁰ While that reporting is operational in nature and separate from financial audits, it highlights the breadth of duties managed by the office.

Upon reviewing the 2024 General Election After Election Report submitted to the State Board of Elections,²⁰ the report indicates that the Clerk’s Office processed 1,818 absentee mail-in ballot requests, of which nine were cancelled and nine replacement ballots were issued. The office also received 49 Federal Post Card Applications (FPCA), of which 40 were returned and processed on or before election day.

On election day (Nov 5, 2024), the Clerk’s Office processed 1,698 returned absentee mail-in ballots and reported 1,420 mail-in ballots in the official election-night results.²⁰ The report further notes that 58 ballots were rejected due to deficiencies, including issues such as missing signatures or improper envelope handling.²⁰

On December 2, 2024, the State Board of Elections contacted the Clerk’s Office regarding a discrepancy in ballot totals, initially estimated between 250 and 275 ballots.²⁰ 

In response, the Clerk’s Office obtained a court order to open the ballot-counting machines and verify the physical ballot count, which totaled 1,420 ballots.²⁰

A subsequent reconciliation, including a count of processed ballot records (‘slips’, as described in the report), identified 1,640 absentee ballots, and when combined with 40 FPCA ballots, resulted in a total of 1,680 ballots cast.²⁰