Raises for judges beat deadline

Wednesday, June 6, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Supreme Court and District Court judges will get a pay raise after the next election, but other state and county elected officials won't.

The Senate failed Monday to pass Assembly Bill 606, which would have allowed pay increases for all elected officials. The judges, however, had a separate salary bill in the Assembly, which cleared in the final hours.

Senate Bill 184, if signed by Gov. Kenny Guinn, raises the pay of Supreme Court justices from $107,600 to $140,000 and district judges from $100,000 to $130,000. The raises will become effective after the next election.

The bill also contains a section that allows all justices on the Supreme Court to receive the same salary. Nevada's Constitution prohibits a mid-term pay raise.

Justices are elected for six years on a staggered schedule. Consequently, some judges are being paid more than others because they can't receive a pay raise until after they stand for election.

Nevada voters in 1994 decided that elected officials could not receive pay raises in the middle of their terms. The judges then devised a plan to skirt the constitutional prohibition. The bill creates a Commission on Libraries, and those justices appointed get an extra $32,400 for serving, equalizing the pay.

District Court judges who fall into this category will get an extra $30,000 for law library commission duties to balance their pay with the other judges.

In addition to their salaries, judges earn longevity pay up to 22 percent of their base.

Though judges were able to push through SB184, other elective officials came up empty-handed.

AB606 also called for raising the salary of the justices to $150,000 and the district judges to $130,000. It also included the device to equalize salaries.

It included a pay increase for state legislators -- the first since 1985. Their pay would go from $130 a day for the first 60 days of the session to $175.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he didn't want a pay raise, so his salary would remain at $117,000 a year instead of the suggested $129,000. But there were increases for the lieutenant governor from $50,000 to $55,000 a year; the attorney general from $110,000 to $121,000 a year and the treasurer, controller and secretary of state from $80,000 to $88,000.

In Clark County, the County Commission's pay would be raised from $54,000 to $68,850; district attorney from $100,800 to $139,104; the sheriff from $84,000 to $115,920 and the clerk, assessor, recorder, treasurer and public administrator from $72,000 to $91,440.