New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently voiced her support of a plan to give state Supreme Court justices a 10% pay raise over 4 years, from their current $210,900 to $232,000, The New York Post reported.
The current salaries of the trial-level judges is more than that of 47 state governors and just $18,000 shy of Hochul’s $250,000, the highest-paid governor in the country.
The average annual gubernatorial salary across all 50 states in 2022 was $148,939.
“Public safety is my top priority,” Hochul said of her support for the pay increase. “We cannot protect the safety of the public without a well-functioning court system. We need to attract and retain talented judges and we need our courts to fairly and promptly dispense justice.”
Rowan Wilson, chief judge of the state’s highest judiciary, the Court of Appeals, has a $240,000 salary that will jump to more than $268,000 under the guidelines.
State legislators got a pay hike earlier this year, boosting their base salary from $110,000 to $142,000.
Hochul’s recommendation went to the Commission on Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Compensation, which will vote on the raises soon.
Victor Kovner, an attorney and one of three Hochul appointees on the seven-member panel, argued the 2.54% hikes every year is comparable to salary increases for the state government’s unionized workforce.
However they try to justify it, $232,000 is a lot to pay over 350 trial-level judges.
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