July 19, 2011
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION CALLS FOR JUDICIAL PAY
RAISES
The failure of New York to adjust judicial salaries for 12 years
imperils the State's vibrant justice system and the millions of New
Yorkers it serves, concludes a report issued today by the New York State
Bar Association.
"New York judges have not had a salary adjustment since 1999, even
though the cost-of-living index has increased by 40 percent during that
time," said State Bar President Vincent E. Doyle III. "We cannot afford
to lose more talented and experienced judges."
The New York Times recently reported that the number of judges
voluntarily leaving the bench has jumped sharply since 1999 when 48 of
the 1,300 state judges left the bench. During 2010, 110 judges resigned.
"It is important to have salaries that do not deter highly qualified
individuals from seeking judicial office, and to ensure that judges are
fairly compensated on an ongoing basis so that we can retain them on the
bench," Doyle said.
Since New York State became responsible for funding the court system
in 1977, judicial pay raises have been infrequent. "A pattern of long
periods of salary stagnation [were] interrupted by occasional
‘catch-up’ increases," the Bar Association report says.
As a result, the report notes, "A judge serving since 1995 has
received only one pay increase, in 1999. A judge serving since 1988--23
years ago--has received only two salary adjustments, in 1993 and 1999,
while seeing inflation dramatically erode his or her salary."
The report recommends that judicial salaries be increased next year
substantially, in an amount at least to reflect the cost-of-living
increase since 1999. Under this recommendation, State Supreme Court
justices, whose salaries have been frozen at $136,700, would be paid at
least $192,011 in 2012. The proposal is not retroactive. Thus, a judge
will not recoup $330,000 in lost wages that he or she would have
received had there been annual cost-of-living raises.
The State Bar Association is submitting the report to the Judicial
Compensation Commission, which is scheduled to hold a hearing in Albany
on Wednesday. Created by a 2010 law, the commission's recommendations
for judicial pay raises take effect April 1, 2012 unless the Legislature
affirmatively modifies or rejects them. The report can be viewed
at: www.nysba.org/judicialsalaries.
The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the largest
voluntary state bar association in the nation.
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