A public records request for the salaries of local government employees recently sparked concern from North Carolina’s trade association for county governments, despite the fact that the association is secretive about releasing its own information.

In June, Carolina Journal asked dozens of counties and municipalities for personnel information available under the state’s open-records law. That prompted Sharon Scudder, a lawyer for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, to send out a broad request to local-government attorneys asking which localities had received the filing.

“The magnitude and breadth of your request got attention,” Scudder said in a telephone interview with CJ. “It’s very frustrating for our counties, who are trying to be more fiscally responsible. But at the same time, there is nothing to pay for additional employees it takes to field some of these requests.”

Scudder posted her inquiry to local officials on a listserv operated by the University of North Carolina School of Government. The listserv is an online application allowing users to sign up with their email addresses and share information with anyone who has subscribed to the group.

The association receives taxpayer-financed dues from North Carolina’s 100 counties and represents the interests of county commissioners in the halls of the General Assembly. The association has 36 employees, six of whom are registered lobbyists for the 2011 legislative session.

Even though the association pays its employees with taxpayer dollars, it has declined to release details on its budget and salaries, claiming that it’s not a public entity and doesn’t fall under the state’s public records law. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported in July seeking information from the association on its employees’ public pensions. The paper’s efforts were rebuffed.

Scudder said that her organization hasn’t given legal advice to any of the counties on the public records request. She suggested that CJ better tailor requests “so that you’re not contributing to the fiscal irresponsibility of government.”

“Speaking with some of our big counties, your request has cost a ton of money — it really has — to try to get that kind of information,” she said. “They have a lot of employees.”

Amanda Martin, an attorney with the N.C. Press Association, said she isn’t aware of any local government claiming it doesn’t have the staff capacity to fulfill public record requests.

“I wouldn’t be a big fan of somebody, for sport, running people through their paces, but as long as there is some reason for people making the request, that’s part of what public agencies have to do — respond to the public records law,” Martin said.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.