Judges’ pay in KY has plummeted compared with other states. See the database
In just two decades, the average pay for judges in Kentucky has fallen from the top half of all states to nearly the worst nationwide.
In 2005, Kentucky judges’ pay ranked 20th out of 55 jurisdictions nationwide, including U.S. territories, at about $117,000.
By this year, Kentucky’s ranking had plummeted to 48th in the U.S. With an average judges’ pay of $161,262, the commonwealth is now $30,000 below the national rate, according to the National Center of State Courts salary database.
And it’s not just judges. Other judicial branch employees earn 17% less than similar positions in the executive branch, according to the database.
For example, court-designated workers and case managers make 35% less than comparable social workers.
Those figures prompted Debra Hembree Lambert, Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, to urge state legislators during a Nov. 6 Judiciary Committee session to increase court employees’ pay 15% across the board.
“These are not luxury requests,” Lambert told lawmakers. “They are about fairness, stability and maintaining the quality of justice that Kentuckians expect and need. The people who devote their careers to public service in our courts deserve compensation that reflects their level of responsibility, their education and their skill.”
Part of Kentucky’s falling position nationwide is that the state went nine years — from 2009 to 2017 — with no salary increases to judicial employees, Lambert said in an interview with the Herald-Leader.
Judges have received 3% raises each of the past two years, but hasn’t brought salaries up to compete with other states. Lambert said the pay is closer to what first-year associate attorneys make right out of law school.
“They are paid, in our area, very close, if not the same as appellate judges,” Lambert said.
And in other states, their judges’ salaries are tied to the increases in cost of living.
“We would love to be able to attract qualified individuals to be our judges,” Lambert told the Herald-Leader. “But we need to pay an average salary.”
Illinois pays its judges the most of any state nationwide, at more than $258,000, on average. West Virginia had the lowest rate of pay, at about $141,000.
The National Center of State Courts is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that works to improve the administration of justice in state courts.
During the Nov. 6 meeting, Lambert also said the judiciary is running short on money and asked permission from lawmakers to tap its reserves for $14.3 million.
The judicial branch is budgeted to spend $521 million this fiscal year, largely from the state’s general fund but also from filing fees, criminal history records checks and other revenue it raises itself, according to the state budget.
