![]() Last year, judges received a pay increase of 2.2%.Įliminating the 8.7% pay raise for lawmakers saved $266,549 and taking it away from statewide officials saved an additional $24,781, not including the cost of benefits. Other judges are paid 73% of the salaries of federal judges who do similar work.įederal judges received a pay raise of 4.1% for 2023, and that increase is reflected in the judiciary budget request. Missouri Supreme Court judges receive 69% of the amount paid to members of the U.S. Judges were not included in Parson’s proposal for an 8.7% raise because their salaries, since a 2010 commission report, have been tied to federal judicial salaries. “Now they will continue to get some increase.” “We wanted to deal with the problem into the future,” Kelly said. Chris Kelly, a Columbia Democrat who chaired the 2020 commission, said the provision tying raises to judicial pay boosts was designed to get around political reluctance to vote for pay raises. As a result, legislative salaries went up 5%, from $35,915 per year in fiscal 2021 to $37,711 in the current year, the first raises for the General Assembly in 13 years. The salary schedule in the commission’s 2020 report took effect in 2021 when the deadline for lawmakers to reject it passed. There is no similar provision in the section on statewide officials, which means the governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general are entirely at the mercy of lawmakers for a pay raise this year. And the controlling report, issued at the end of 2020, directs that lawmakers receive raises at “the same percentage increase as was received by Circuit Judges in their most recent yearly increase.” The Missouri Constitution allows, but does not require, cost-of-living adjustments for legislators and statewide officials that do not exceed the raise given generally to state employees.īut the same section of the constitution mandates that salaries should otherwise be controlled by the most recent report from the Missouri Citizens’ Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials. Parson asked for the $627 million spending bill to be passed in time for the raises to be included in paychecks issued on the last day of March. If no changes are made on the Senate floor, the bill would be the first legislation this session delivered to Gov. ![]() The committee made no changes to the bill as passed earlier this month in the Missouri House, which removed money earmarked for raises for statewide elected officials and lawmakers. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill providing an 8.7% pay raise for all state employees, along with an increase in the night differential for direct care institutional employees to $2 an hour from the current 30 cents. But a provision of the state Constitution means legislators may see a pay boost on July 1. Lawmakers and statewide elected officials wouldn’t get a raise next month from a supplemental spending bill moving toward passage. ![]()
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