When she entered the room

Monday night, probably the last thing on Superior Court Clerk Sheila

Studdard's mind was pencils.

But after she had gone through her budget presentation with the Fayette

County Commission, she probably wanted to erase the pencil issue.

Studdard came under a little bit of fire for pencils in her office.

County Commissioner Linda Wells objected to Studdard having her name

stamped on the pencils.

"It just looks like advertising to me that's being paid for

with county tax money," Wells said.

But Studdard said that pencils with writing on them have a habit of

staying in the office, while plainer pencils seem to disappear.

"We've really had only two pencil orders since I've been

there," she said.

It was suggested the next

pencil order should just have "Clerk

of Superior Court" written on them, and Studdard's name removed.

Other than the pencil snafu, Studdard got most of what she was asking

for in her budget.

The county agreed to make a separate line item for deed books, which

Studdard said is one of the biggest expenses in her office supply budget.

In 2003, Studdard used 372 of the $140-each books for an expense of

$52,080.

She questioned why staff had recommended cutting her office supply budget

from a requested $95,000 to $57,000, which would barely cover the cost

of the deed books. So far this year, Studdard has recorded 55,000 real

estate filings.

The staff agreed to prepare a separate line item for the books, and

to reexamine the issue during a mid-year budget review.

Studdard was also pleased the staff agreed with her recommendation to

hire three part-time county clerks. But Studdard was also cautioned that

if she was adding employees, her overtime levels should decrease.

She had originally requested $20,000 in overtime, which the county slashed

to $10,000. Monday night, the county slashed it in half to $5,000 and

said that issue would be examined again in a mid-year budget session.