Greene County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matt Hardin ran on a campaign promise to cut his office’s budget.

But when he contacted the state about cutting his pay for prosecuting crimes in the locality of 18,000, the state said no.

“I think that makes sense in places like Charlottesville or Fairfax, but country lawyers aren’t making that much,” Hardin told the Greene County Record. “I was not making this much money before I got this office and there is no reason when you go into government service to get a raise.”

Hardin makes $121,000 a year because his predecessor had the position upgraded from part-time to full-time status and, according to the attorney general, there’s no provision in state law that would allow him to revert to part-time, according to the Record.

If he were allowed to revert to part-time status, his salary would be reduced to $60,000.

The Record reports he is going to ask for a change in state law: “You know something’s wrong with your government when it takes effort to cut,” he said.