Higher Fees Would Pay For Judge Raises

Both Gov. Phil Batt and legislative leaders have endorsed a pay increase for Idaho’s judges to be financed by another increase in court fees, Court Administrator Patricia Tobias told legislative budget writers on Wednesday.

“There is an urgent need to increase these salaries,” Tobias said in seeking the support of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

The proposal worked out by House and Senate leaders and Chief Justice Charles McDevitt earlier in the week calls for a 5 percent pay increase in July and another 4 percent in July 1997.

The last pay increase the judiciary received was in July 1993 when salaries rose 6 percent.

Lawmakers had been on a schedule of giving the judges a pay increase every other year until last year when no pay raise was approved amid widespread legislative dissatisfaction with a number of the judicial rulings. , DataTimes