This is an appeal by defendants Pike County, its county manager, and members of its board of commissioners collectively “County” from the Superior Court of Pike County’s grant of summary judgment to plaintiff Marcia Callaway-Ingram “Callaway-Ingram”, who was appointed Chief Magistrate of Pike County. Callaway-Ingram filed suit seeking, inter alia, a writ of mandamus and permanent injunction in this dispute involving her salary and the funding and operation of the magistrate court. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the judgment of the superior court.
The relevant facts as found by the superior court are the following. In April 2010, Priscilla Killingsworth resigned the position of Chief Magistrate of Pike County in the middle of her 2009-2012 elected term of office. Callaway-Ingram was appointed to fill the position on May 25, 2010, and assumed her judicial duties on June 1, 2010. During the 2009-2012 term of this elected position, Killingsworth was paid an annual salary of $63,139, and that remained the budgeted salary for that office when Callaway-Ingram assumed it on June 1, 2010. Inasmuch as the compensation for Georgia magistrate judges is set by statute, and Callaway-Ingram was going to fill an unexpired term of office, salary was not discussed during the appointment process. However, because Callaway-Ingram needed time to wind up her private law practice before devoting full-time efforts to the position of chief magistrate, she and the chairman of the board of commissioners agreed to a temporary reduction of her annual salary to $49,182 in exchange for her being allowed time off on a flexible basis to close her practice. Once that had been concluded, she would devote full time to the chief magistrate position and receive the same salary as her predecessor. During this time period, the County found itself in a financial crisis, and on June 29, 2010, 28 days after Callaway-Ingram assumed her judicial duties, the County adopted its budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, and, over Callaway-Ingram’s objection, permanently reduced the chief magistrate’s salary from $63,139 to $49,182. A year later, the County, over Callaway-Ingram’s objection, budgeted $49,182 for her salary.
