The Barren River Area Development District Executive Council was advised Wednesday to fight a state claim that it illegally paid about $82,000 in bonuses from 2009 to 2014.

Attorney David Broderick said there is nothing in the law that prevents BRADD from using administration-designated money to pay the across-the-board salary adjustments – or bonuses, as some officials have called them –once all the services for the program have been delivered.

Broderick is sending a letter to the state to that effect. The dispute over the money has dragged on for about two years.

BRADD took money from the Department of Aging and Independent Living funds, referred to by officials as DAIL, and BRADD Executive Director Rodney Kirtley assured the council Wednesday – and also in statements recently to the Daily News – that no services were stopped or altered in the region.

Kirtley said a telephone conversation between him and a state official indicated the state would make an offer to BRADD that the agency could pay just 10 percent of the amount, $8,200. Broderick mentioned a $42,000 settlement amount has been discussed in conversations between the attorney and the DAIL commissioner and an attorney from the state Attorney General’s Office. Broderick has indicated he will ask the state for a specific settlement amount in writing.

Allen County Judge-Executive Johnny Hobdy said it might be more reasonable to pay back the money than to pay legal fees. Broderick said if the situation goes up the ladder to eventually land in the Franklin County Circuit Court, legal bills could amount to between $10,000 and $20,000.

Kirtley, Butler County Judge-Executive David Fields and Metcalfe County Judge-Executive Greg Wilson disagreed with Hobdy, saying BRADD’s reputation in the community is at stake. Kirtley said Wednesday that paying the money would admit guilt. 

“Right’s right and wrong’s wrong,” Wilson said. “The state isn’t always right.”