Cobb County court reporters' pay structure, which allows them of receive a county salary while charging additional fees for providing transcripts, is not out of the ordinary, a Cobb grand jury found late last week.
But because the court reporters’ total compensation, including benefits, is more than what they would earn as independent contractors, the grand jury recommended an examination of their compensation.
Benefit packages for salaried court reporters range from about $15,000 to $31,000 in Cobb, according to the grand jury’s report. To offset the cost of those benefits, the jury recommended possibly charging the county discounted transcript fees. It also recommended possibly providing free transcripts for the public defender and district attorney’s office for a certain period of time.
The recommendation follows concerns expressed by Superior Court Clerk Jay Stephenson, who questioned reporters’ pay earlier this year. Stephenson maintained that reporters should not be allowed to charge the county for the transcripts because they were county property.
Court reporters in Cobb are considered full-time county employees and .charge the county and private attorneys for transcripts. The issue concerns work produced and most court reporters view the transcripts as a product that they owned, the report found.
“I saw it as a problem and think that the grand jury, saying they were overcompensated and questioned who owned the work product, I think basically they agreed with me,” Stephenson said.
He is drafting a letter, expected to be delivered this week, to county commissioners suggesting a revision of the court reporters’ job description.
“This would be to make it clear that they will be treated the same way the other approximately 4,000 county employees will be treated,” Stephenson said. “The county will supply them with everything they need to do their job ... and like every other employee, their work product is the ownership of the county.”
Transcript fees are legal and apply to court reporters state-wide. But how reporters are paid varies from county to county. In Gwinnett, court reporters are considered contractors.
Rhonda Eubanks, a Cobb court reporter, was pleased with the grand jury’s report, specifically the accolades for their work and the thorough examination of their jobs and compensation.
“I beg to differ on the recommendation regarding that we might earn more than independent contractors,” she said. “We’re hoping this will be the end of it and hoping we don’t have to deal with anything else. It’s not a dog-eat-dog fight as far as we’re concerned.”
In addition to the compensation recommendations, the grand jury also recommended court reporters use standardized software and that there be a central repository -- possibly a digital one -- for all transcripts to prevent problems when court reporters move to other states.
AJC results
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News investigated Cobb’s court reporter costs in July after Stephenson first raised concerns. Cobb County paid an extra $472,123 in transcript fees to its 24 court reporters from June 2009 to June 25, 2010, on top of salaries. The transcript costs were found to be exceeding budgets in some of the county’s courts, including the district attorney’s office.
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