How many years have they waited for raises? 10 Years…. And it always seems that legislators pay is attached, so when there is no raise for one, the other is left out too. Legislators do not deserve a raise, not in the least. Judges on the other hand do.

wxxi NewsRoom
Chief Judge Threatens Lawsuit Over Pay Issue

ALBANY, NEW YORK (2008-03-31) The state’s judges are disappointed to learn that salary increases for the judiciary will likely be left out of the state budget once again. The state’s Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Judith Kaye, is threatening to sue. The pay raise issue is just one of many matters Governor Paterson and state lawmakers are working out as the state budget deadline approaches.

An angry Chief Judge Judith Kaye gave state lawmakers a tongue lashing for what she says is their “shameful, disgraceful” failure to provide pay raises for the state’s judges, who’ve gone ten years without a salary increase.

“We need to put an end to this miserable scenario,” said Kaye.

Kaye says she’s tired of being “jollied along” by governors and legislators. She says she’s been told for the past three years that a pay hike for judges is just around the corner, but the money has failed to materialize.

The Chief Judge told an audience of lawyers and others in the legal profession at the New York State Bar Association that she’s prepared to sue, if lawmakers let judges down again.

Shortly afterward, State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno confirmed that the pay raises for judges were once again not going to be part of the budget.

“Judges’ pay is not in there, legislators’ pay is not in there,” Said Bruno.

For years, the issue of increased compensation for judges has been tied to raising pay for state legislators, who also have not had a raise in a decade. New Governor David Paterson has said that he’s against a pay hike for lawmakers during an economic downturn.

The budget will contain increased spending on education, with a record hike of $1.8 billion dollars. There’s still some argument about which formula to use to divide the money up among regions of the state and among poor and wealthier schools.

In order to pay for more spending on schools, and health care, when the state faces a nearly $5 billion dollar deficit, Governor Paterson and the legislature have agreed to impose some new taxes and raise some fees. It’s likely that large on-line retailers like Amazon will be required to charge sales tax on purchases by New York residents.

Cigarette taxes will be going up, by as much as $1.50 per pack. Russell Sciandra, with the coalition for a Healthy New York, an anti-smoking group, is pleased.

“New York State today has struck a body blow to big tobacco,” said Sciandra, who predicts that thousands of adults will quit and hundreds of thousands of children will not take up the habit of smoking.

Some proposals put forth by former governor Eliot Spitzer appear to have been dropped. The ex-governor had proposed closing a number of prisons. Now, Senate Republicans say, the prisons and youth detention centers will remain open. Spitzer had also proposed selling the state lottery to create an endowment fund for public colleges and universities. So far, the sale or leasing of the lottery has not been discussed. Also off the table is a proposal by the State Assembly to raise the state’s income tax for millionaires.