PINELLAS COUNTY -- Unlike counterparts in Hillsborough County, Pinellas County commissioners won't dock their pay, Commission Chairman Calvin Harris said this afternoon.

Pinellas commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday to talk about their office's budget for 2010. Hillsborough commissioners this month agreed to furlough themselves or freeze pay to match the cut that rank-and-file employees face.

But Harris said Pinellas officials have debated pay cuts before and attorneys have advised them that a formal cut wouldn't work. Their salaries (nearly $91,000 a year) are set by state law, although there are ways to skirt the law, such as donating money to charity.

"Even if you vote to cut it, you have to keep it. ... We tried to do it last year, but we can’t do it because it’s set by the state," Harris said.

David DeCamp, Times staff writer