New Westmoreland sheriff's office solicitor will not get cut of property sales

The new part-time solicitor for the Westmoreland County Sheriff’s office will have a higher salary than his predecessor but still earn about $25,000 per year less under a restructuring approved Thursday.

The county’s salary board, which includes all three commissioners and Controller Jeffrey Balzer, voted to increase the salary for the lawyer appointed by Sheriff James Albert to handle legal issues associated with the day-to-day operation of the department.

Each of the county’s elected row officers are allowed to hire a part-time lawyer to handle legal work. The job typically pays about $7,300 a year, but the lawyer for the sheriff’s department now will earn $25,900 annually.

“The sheriff’s office solicitor does a lot more work,” said Melissa Guiddy, the county’s chief solicitor. Guiddy said the department’s previous lawyer earned more than $57,000 last year through his base salary and commissions from property deeds sold at sheriff’s sales throughout the year. The commissions were for legal reviews of every deed sold at the sales, she said.

The restructuring means the department’s new lawyer won’t earn any future commissions from sheriff sales and all proceeds from the sales will be turned over to the county. The switch is expected to result in about $25,000 in new revenue for the county’s budget, Guiddy said.

Albert hired Henry Moore to serve as the department’s new solicitor. Moore, 58, of North Huntingdon, previously worked as a master in the county’s family court division. His brother, East Huntingdon District Judge Charles Moore, served as a chief deputy in the sheriff’s office for about a decade and became the county’s interim sheriff when then-Sheriff Chris Scherer was elected judge in 2009.

Henry Moore said this week he had no issues with the compensation changes enacted for the sheriff’s solicitor.

“This will allow me to retire,” Moore said, noting his position with the sheriff’s office will enable him to collect a pension earned for his previous work for the county. Moore will be considered a temporary employee and his salary will be based on working no more than 1,000 hours a year. Future solicitors for the sheriff’s office will receive a base salary of $25,922 and will be considered an employee of the department.

Albert said he only considered Moore for the job. Moore was not a contributor to Albert’s campaign for sheriff, according to elections bureau records.

David Regoli, who worked for 12 years as the sheriff’s department solicitor under Scherer, Charles Moore and briefly for Sheriff Jonathan Held, said the new salary structure is fair.

“It’s more work than solicitors for other row offices,” Regoli said.