Commission to study need for judicial pay hikes

Should Louisiana judges get a salary increase? That’s the question that will come before the Judicial Compensation Commission at its Dec. 15 meeting. The commission is awaiting a report from economist Loren Scott comparing salaries of judges in Louisiana with averages in the South and the rest of the nation. Scott’s report, which cost roughly $14,000, is expected on Dec. 9. Although the commission has already come under fire for even considering salary hikes, Judicial Compensation Commission Chairman Joseph Toomy of Gretna notes it’s the Louisiana Legislature that mandated the study. “We want to comply with this charge from the Legislature,” he says. “The fact that we are doing a study in no way implies what the content will be, and it would be premature to speculate or assume what our recommendations will be before we’ve even received the study.” Toomy notes that historically, the commission’s recommendations have been limited to a standard cost-of-living increase; over the past 15 years, the body has never recommended an annual increase of more than 5%, even when studies have “indicated the need for greater increases” to keep judicial salaries from “sinking further below both the southern state average and the national average.” The commission will make its recommendations to the Legislature in January as required, and the Legislature will ultimately decide whether judges will receive any pay hike. —Penny Font