Supreme Court justices ask pay panel to increase rate

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Josephine Hart addresses the Independent Citizens Commission on Monday.
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Josephine Hart addresses the Independent Citizens Commission on Monday.

The panel tasked with setting the salaries of Arkansas' elected officials heard public comments Monday on the initial proposed increases they reached earlier this year, including recommendations from two state Supreme Court justices who asked that their pay be increased further.

The Independent Citizens Commission in its initial review in January recommended Supreme Court justice pay be increased from $149,589 to $166,500 for associate justices and from $161,601 to $180,000 for the chief justice.

But on Monday, Associate Justices Karen Baker and Josephine Hart suggested the pay should be raised even higher.

Baker proposed the panel set associate justice salaries at $180,000 and chief justice pay at $182,500.

She told the commission that Arkansas differs significantly from the high courts of states the panel reviewed in setting pay. And she said that the proposed amount is too close to the rate for the Arkansas Court of Appeals judges, whom the panel suggested be paid $161,500 to $164,000.

She noted Court of Appeals judges get mileage reimbursements while Supreme Court justices do not, which makes the compensation even closer.

Baker said the higher pay is a "public policy matter" important in drawing the "best and brightest" candidates for the state's high court, who might otherwise opt to run for a lower office or stay in lucrative private practice.

"Most of them are probably smarter than I am and realize that considering the extra expenses and lack of reimbursement and the onerous task of running a statewide election, that it would not be in their financial interest to do that," she said.

Hart also asked for a higher salary for the state's highest court. She didn't ask the panel for a specific amount, but afterward said she believed $179,000 was fair for associate justices.

Hart told the panel that being a Supreme Court justice requires a "huge workload" that should be compensated more than lower courts. She also questioned whether candidates would step up to run if the salary is too low.

"We are only going to do that if we compensate them for their time and effort," she said.

The commission on Monday also heard from two citizens who said the panel's initial pay increase suggestions were too high.

Rick Wells of Little Rock criticized the panelists for increasing state legislator pay, calling the process a "scam" and suggesting the money would be better spent on education.

"We've got so many issues this money needs to go to and the first thing you do is double the pay rate of people, some of them making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," Wells said. "... You guys are cons."

The commission will meet March 16 to make any changes and then vote on finalizing the increases. That meeting had previously been set for March 13.

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