Ruling gives judges $7.5 million in back pay
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HARRISBURG -- The judicial raises reinstated Thursday will cost taxpayers roughly $7.5 million in retroactive pay for the state's approximately 1,000 judges, according to calculations by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
That's about $193,000 per week for the nine months since the legislators, under public pressure, voted in mid-November to repeal the raises they had approved for themselves, judges and Gov. Ed Rendell's top advisers in July 2005.
The state Supreme Court Thursday reinstated judges' raises, but not the others, declaring unconstitutional the portion of the November repeal affecting judicial pay.
The court ruling cited a state constitution provision that judges' salaries cannot be reduced unless pay of all "salaried officers of the commonwealth" also is cut.
Now, salaries of the state's 550 magisterial district judges will increase from $66,998 to $74,566. Salaries of the 400 Common Pleas judges will be $149,132, up from $135,293.
Salaries of the 15 Superior Court judges and nine Commonwealth Court judges will be $162,100, up from $150,903. Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ralph Cappy's salary will be $176,800, up from $160,009, and salaries of the other six Supreme Court justices will be $171,800, up from $160,783.
Together, the raises will cost taxpayers some $10 million a year, bringing the total spent on state judges' salaries to roughly $105 million.
The exact cost of the raises has not yet been calculated, said Stuart Ditzen, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
The judiciary also has not yet determined how it will pay for the $193,000-a-week raises or for the retroactive pay, Mr. Ditzen said.
"We don't have the answer yet. Our office has to interact with the treasurer's office but I don't believe it's budgeted for currently," Mr. Ditzen said.
"The Legislature, I don't think, would have anticipated raises for the judges in our budget. That's something our lawyers and our finance people are going to be looking at."
Besides annual increases based on the cost of living, Pennsylvania judges have not had salary increases since 1995, Mr. Ditzen said. That year their salaries increased by about $8,800, he said.
Other than in magisterial district court, where law degrees are not required, Pennsylvania judges already were paid above the national average.
In 2004, average salary for trial court judges in the United States was $114,431, according to a report by the National Center for State Courts. The average for appellate and intermediate court judges was $123,629; and for judges on high courts, $127,269.
Watchdog groups were outraged by Thursday's ruling, but some observers, including University of Pittsburgh law professor John Burkoff, say judges deserve the raises.
Even better, he said, the ruling allows state judges' pay to increase at the same rate as that of federal judges. Previously, the state's chief justice has had to lobby for judges' pay increases.
"From my point of view, that's wonderful public policy," Mr. Burkoff said.
First Published September 16, 2006 12:00 am
