Missouri panel: boosting judges' pay not priority

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A state panel will consider pay raises for Missouri lawmakers and executive officers but is unlikely to recommend higher salaries for judges, the commission's newly elected chairman said during the group's first meeting Monday.

Chairman and former state representative Charles Schlottach said the Missouri Citizens' Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials will prioritize a decision on pay increases for executive and legislative offices over those for judges.

"At this juncture, our main focus is going to be on those two areas," Schlottach said.

State judges received pay increases this year and two years ago while legislators and executive officials did not.

Missouri law requires the commission make a recommendation on elected officials' pay every two years. Those recommendations take effect automatically unless two-thirds of the General Assembly votes against them.

The last time Missouri's legislators and executive branch officials received salary increases was in the 2009 fiscal year.

State senators and representatives currently make less than $36,000 a year for work in the part-time Legislature. The governor is paid nearly $134,000 annually; the attorney general more than $116,000; the secretary of state, auditor and treasurer nearly $108,000; and the lieutenant governor more than $86,000.

In 2010, the commission suggested setting the salaries of Missouri Supreme Court judges at 69 percent of those of U.S. Supreme Court justices and 73 percent of the salaries of their federal equivalents for other Missouri judges. Missouri Supreme Court judges' salaries increased from about $137,000 a year to almost $148,000.

Their salaries also increased this year because of federal judicial salary adjustments. For example, state Supreme Court judges now receive $168,636 a year.

The 21-member commission has until Dec. 1 to decide whether to recommend any pay changes.

Monday marked the first of four scheduled hearings on elected officials' salaries. The panel asked if any members of the public wanted to speak, but no one did.

The next public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at the Department of Natural Resources' office in Springfield.

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