Centre County Commissioner Keith Bierly said he will make a motion at Tuesday's commissioner's meeting regarding a proposed increase in the district attorney's salary, but he would not say what the motion will include.

"I intend to make a motion on Tuesday," Bierly said Friday. "Whether or not it gets a second we will have to see."

Bierly would not elaborate further on the subject, saying only that it would be "relevant to the matter."

District Attorney Ray Gricar on Oct. 13 sent a letter supported by Centre County judges and area law enforcement officers to the county commissioners, requesting that the county make the district attorney a full-time employee.

Gricar said he requested the new classification be implemented in 1990 after a new district attorney is elected.

Currently a part-time employee, Gricar said he works full-time hours, and makes about $27,000 each year.

A Pennsylvania state law passed in November 1987 requires that all counties pay part-time district attorneys half the salary of the county's common pleas judges, while full-time district attorneys receive $1,000 less than a county judge, said County Commissioner Vicki Baumbarger.

County judges currently make $80,000.

However, Gricar was in the middle of his term in office when the new legislation was approved and is ineligible for the raise, according to a Pennsylvania constitutional provision that bars elected officials from receiving a raise while in office.

The district attorney said he has not been notified to attend Tuesday's meeting and has no idea about what might happen. He said the county commissioners might either appeal for input from the public about the raise or vote on the raise at the meeting.

"I know something's coming, but what exactly it is I don't know," Gricar said. If the commissioners fail to make the DA's position full-time and Gricar is re-elected, he said he will only work part-time during his next term.

"I will do the job according to the way they vote," Gricar said.

During his 1985 election campaign, Gricar promised to work full-time even though the job held a part-time status.

Gricar said he will honor his campaign promise of 1985 and continue to do the job full-time until 1990. He said he has not determined yet if he would go into private practice if the raise is not approved.

"I haven't made that decision yet and I won't speculate," he said.

Gricar, whose term in office expires at the end of this year, said he will definitely run again in 1989.

Commissioner Chairman John Saylor told the Centre Daily Times last week the raise was unnecessary. "We can't afford it. We don't need it," he was quoted as saying.

Gricar, responding to Saylor's comment Friday, said that if Centre County gave more attention to law enforcement, the county would be able to fund the raise.

"As far as the need issues go, the judges and police chiefs are in a better position to decide the issue of need," Gricar said. "I think it's a question of priorities. I think (the commissioners) could probably find (the money) if they made law enforcement a priority."

Saylor could not be reached for comment yesterday evening.

Bierly said law enforcement is a $50 million industry in Centre County, and he proposed the district attorney's office be put in the "proper perspective as related to other (county) law enforcement offices."

"People are scared of the $79,000 salary," Bierly added.

Baumbarger said she favors the idea of a full-time district attorney in Centre County, but said the definition of full-time versus part-time is misleading.

"It's an improper definition in my opinion, as far as the taxpayers are assuming," Baumbarger said. "The only difference between full-time and part-time is if he is termed full-time he is not permitted to practice law on the side."

Barring law practice, Baumbarger said, Gricar could pursue any endeavors he desired.

Baumbarger said she is troubled by the fact that judge's salaries are funded by the state government. If the judges receive a pay increase, the district attorney's salary automatically rises, she added.

"The way the laws are written it ties his salary to the judge's salary," Baumbarger said.

"What (the laws) have done is they allow the state to dictate how much (the DA) will be paid and Centre County has to foot the bill," she said. "I don't like that. It's bad legislation. It really is."

She said the district attorney of Centre County should make somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.

"That sounds like something (the people of Centre County) could live with as long as I could guarantee them a DA which would work 40 hours per week," she said.

Baumarger said she favors a part-time district attorney that would make $40,000 a year and have a "service contract on the side." This means the district attorney would have other duties, Baumbarger said.

"They would be DA-type duties as opposed to other duties not related to the DA," Baumbarger said.

The service contract would provide an additional $10,000 to $20,000 per year in salary. The contract would require a minimum 40 hours of work per week.

"That's my proposal and only mine," she said.

Baumbarger said the issue probably will not be settled at Tuesday's meeting.

"I don't think it will come to a vote," she said. "I think the motion will die for lack of a second."