State commission officially recommends raises for judges

The Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation officially recommended boosting Supreme Court judges’ pay by a little more than 10 percent this week. Screenshot via the Commission

By Jacob Kaye

The commission charged with determining the salaries for New York State judges, lawmakers and top officials in the executive branch officially recommended pay raises for the state’s judiciary this week.

In a report submitted to Governor Kathy Hochul, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation officially recommended boosting Supreme Court judges’ pay by a little more than 10 percent.

The report, which comes after two public hearings and a number of meetings held by the commission, cites a handful of reasons why the commission believes judges, who have not seen their salaries increase since 2019, should get a raise. A pay disparity between the state’s judges and federal judges, inflation and the fact that the other two branches of government have received raises in recent years were all cited by the commission in their report calling for a judicial pay increase.

The report comes a little less than a month after the commission met and voted in unanimous support of increasing judicial pay.

In their report, the commission also cited a number of reasons as to why they believe the raises are needed, including ensuring that the basic tenets of justice are met in New York.

“To fairly and efficiently provide justice to the people of the state, we need to ensure that our judges have the support and the resources they need to do the job,” the commission said in its official recommendation. “Part of that requires that they be properly compensated for the job we are asking them to do.”

The commission, which is led by former Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Fahey, recommended that State Supreme court justices receive an annual salary of $232,600, a 10.2 percent increase compared to their current pay.

All other judges – who are currently paid proportionally to Supreme Court justices – would also see their pay increase by the same percentage but most would not see their proportion change.

County Court judges, Family Court judges and Surrogate Court judges would not earn less than 95 percent of a Supreme Court justice’s salary, under the recommendation. Those judges currently being more than 95 percent of a Supreme Court justice’s salary would continue to be paid at the same percentage, the commission recommended.

New York City Civil Court, Criminal Court, Housing Court, District Court, and full-time City Court judges outside of New York City would earn 93 percent of a Supreme Court justice’s salary under the plan.

The pay increase would go into effect on April 1, 2024, according to the commission.

There would be no increase in 2025 and then a 2 percent increase on April 1, 2026. They would also not see an increase in 2027, the year the next iteration of the commission is scheduled to meet.

Governor Kathy Hochul received the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation’s recommendation to increase judges’ salaries this week. Photo via Governor Hochul’s office

“We believe our judges are among the best in the nation,” the commission said in a letter attached to the report. “The recommended salary levels will help to attract and retain both the diversity and the excellence of the bench to ensure a strong and independent judiciary.”

“This is what the people of New York deserve,” they added.

The power to enact the salary increases now partially sits with the governor and legislature.

Should the legislature and governor take no action on the proposal, it will pass into law, going into effect April 2024. However, both the state’s top executive and legislatures – whose salaries will be determined by the same commission next year – also have the power to amend or reject the commission’s proposal.

Though the commission has yet to have its recommendations rejected by the legislature during its short history, raises for judges have been hard to come by.

Created in 2011, the seven-member commission was put in place at a time when judges had not seen a raise in a dozen years.

It wasn’t until 2015 that the commission – which meets every four years – convened and recommended incremental salary increases for New York State judges, an increase that was paid out over the following four years.

In 2019, the final year judges saw the 2015 raise take effect, the commission recommended against increasing the pay of the state’s judges, citing budget concerns.

Following the commission’s determination in 2019, top court officials at the time lobbied then-Governor Andrew Cuomo to reconvene the commission, which he did, ordering them to again meet in 2020. However, budget concerns remained the following year, and were in fact made worse by the pandemic. Judges were poised to go at least the next four years without a pay increase.

Should the legislature reject the commission’s proposal, judges will likely have to go eight years without a pay boost.

And just like 2019 and 2020, budget concerns remain.

During the commission’s first hearing in mid-October, Blake Washington, the director of the Division of Budget, laid out a dire budgetary situation, which he said includes a budget deficit of around $10 billion in the coming year.

“These gaps have to be addressed by prudent management by all state agencies, and OCA, as well,” Washington said.

The proposal is expected to cost around $35 million the first year the pay raises go into effect, and $4.6 million for each of the following years a pay raise is in effect, according to the Office of Court Administration.

Following the commission’s initial recommendation in mid-November, a spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration said the court system was in full support of having their judges’ salaries increase.

​​“The Unified Court System is grateful for the thoughtful, efficient work of the Commission on Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Compensation, under the leadership of Judge Eugene Fahey,” OCA spokesperson Al Baker told the Eagle last month. “As we have said throughout this process, competitive compensation is essential to attracting the best and brightest of the legal profession to the judiciary, retaining experienced judges on the bench, and ensuring the independence and integrity of New York’s judicial branch.”

“We are gratified that under today’s recommendation by the Commission, New York’s Supreme Court Justices next year would receive the same salaries as are currently received by Federal District Court judges, and the salaries of all of our other judges will be calculated based on that benchmark,” he added. “Pay parity with the federal judiciary sends a strong signal that the work of New York’s judges is valued and respected.”

The governor’s office did not respond to request for comment regarding the commission’s recommendation on Wednesday.