County officials due a raise
House Bill 279, awaiting the governor’s signature, would give raises to Superior Court judges, district attorneys, public defenders and other state officials. But local officials — including some county commissioners, judges, tax commissioners and other officials — also would get a raise because their salaries are linked to judges or other officials who would get a raise from the state. The list below shows the total number of officials — state and local — who will get a raise under HB 279 for a dozen metro Atlanta counties.
Cherokee 17
Clayton 19
Cobb 12
Coweta 13
DeKalb 31
Douglas 10
Fayette 17
Forsyth 9
Fulton 52
Gwinnett 34
Henry 10
Rockdale 12
Total 236
Hundreds of county employees in Georgia — many of them already highly paid — will get raises next year without a vote from their county commissioners because their salaries are tied to big raises in store for Superior Court judges.
And here’s the kicker: County taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the unfunded mandate because the legislation for the judicial raises doesn’t include money for the county salaries tied to them.
Gov. Nathan Deal, who helped broker the deal for the judicial raises, is expected to sign the legislation into law in the next month.
That will trigger a salary increase for county commissioners in Clayton, Douglas and Fayette counties. And for the tax commissioners in DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cherokee counties. And the solicitor in Fulton County. And the coroner in Rockdale County.
In all, officials in more than 40 counties in Georgia — including several in metro Atlanta — will see their pay jump because of the raises to Superior Court salaries. Legislators call the interlocking network of state and local salaries “the train”; and in Georgia that train can be long and costly.
The salary increase for judges at the front of the train will mean thousands of dollars for many county officials and will cost taxpayers in some counties hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review. DeKalb will pony up more than $200,000 a year for the tie-in raises. In Gwinnett it will be $160,000.
Several legislators supported the judges’ pay raise, but voted against legislation authorizing it specifically because of the cost to local taxpayers. In most cases, the other officials entitled to raises work in judicial or criminal justice positions. In some, they include county commissioners who will get a pay raise without ever having to vote on it.
“We talk about (federal) overreach all the time,” said Rep. David Stover, R-Newnan. “We do the same thing at the state level, we just do it on a smaller scale.”
But under pressure from a strong lobbying effort by judges and with the backing of Deal, the pay raise bill won overwhelming support in the House and Senate.
Supporters of the bill say local lawmakers, such as the delegations from DeKalb, Gwinnett or Cherokee, could pass a bill untying county salaries from the judges’ pay.
“At the request of the local government, or even your local delegation on its own, you can unhitch that train with local legislation,” noted Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, who carried the bill in his chamber.
Doing so wouldn’t be particularly difficult, since lawmakers traditionally defer to the wishes of local legislative delegations — lawmakers from one county — on bills that pertain to their county. Nonetheless, even those who complained about handing out raises to county officials didn’t push legislation to do so, in some cases saying they would only do it at the request of their local officials.
Ripple effect of a bill
Top judges began lobbying before the General Assembly session to get raises. Judges argued they'd long gone without state-funded raises. But county supplements have skewed the pay scale: in some circuits, Superior Court judges have been paid $120,000 to $140,000 a year. In others, they earned closer to $200,000.
In consultation with Deal, legislative leaders brokered a compromise giving top judges, district attorneys and circuit public defenders 5 percent raises. In addition, Superior Court judges, district attorneys and public defenders in circuits with "accountability courts," a top priority of Deal, would get an additional 5 percent increase.
Superior Court judges in those circuits will see a $1,000 a month boost in pay when the raises kick in Jan. 1.
The AJC reported in December that the pay raise included for members of the Court of Appeals of Georgia would also lead to a salary bump for members of the state Board of Workers’ Compensation. Members of the board will get about a $7,500 increase because they are paid 90 percent of what the Appeals Court judges make. Under the new salary structure, Appeals Court judges will earn just under $175,000 a year.
But the biggest, and most costly salary tie-ins will come in the form of raises for county officials. According to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, at least 43 counties link at least one local job to the pay of Superior Court judges. An AJC review found more. Plus, the pay of some other county jobs are pegged to salaries of county officials tied to the Superior Court judges’ pay, officials said. How many is unclear.
In some cases, lawmakers passed bills tying the salary of, say, a juvenile court judge or tax commissioner in their county to the pay of superior court judges. In Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, more than 30 people will get raises from the bill.
Former Sen. Don Balfour of Snellville, who served more than two decades in the Senate before losing his re-election bid last year, said he doesn’t remember when the tie-ins were first approved. “It was like that when I got to the Senate,” Balfour said. “It’s always been that way.”
In Gwinnett, judges in State, Juvenile, Magistrate, Recorders and Probate Court will get raises paid for with local tax dollars. So will the solicitor, clerk of Superior Court and tax commissioner.
So Tax Commissioner Richard Steele’s salary will go from just under $133,900 to $138,400, according to the county. Probate Judge Christopher Ballar’s salary would go from $129,692 to about $134,200.
Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash sent the AJC an email saying she has no problem with the raises.
“We are very fortunate in Gwinnett to have good judges and other elected officials who work hard for all of us,” Nash said. “I think it is appropriate for their pay to be adjusted. We will incorporate the necessary funding into the county’s budget for 2016.”
In DeKalb, the list includes several judges, the superior court clerk and the tax commissioner. In Cherokee, the sheriff, solicitor and tax commissioner will get raises. And in Clayton, county commissioners and State and Juvenile Court judges will see a pay hike.
Under HB 279, only part of the judicial pay raise will effect tied-in county salaries. The 5 percent supplement for “accountability courts” won’t be included in determining the salaries of county officials. The 5 percent regular salary increase will be used.
That’s still a bigger raise than state employees, many teachers and local employees have seen in recent years. The General Assembly approved 1 percent pay raises for state employees next year, and teachers will only get cost-of-living raises if their school boards decide their districts can afford them.
‘Give the public a chance’
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, who has served about a quarter century in the General Assembly, co-sponsored HB 279 and sponsored another bill giving DeKalb’s chief magistrate court judge a raise as part of a court reorganization. Oliver said local tie-in legislation has been a “moving target” over the years.
In the past, the DeKalb CEO and, indirectly, the county commission salaries were tied to Superior Court pay, but legislators changed that.
DeKalb is paying two CEOs $153,498 because Burrell Ellis remains suspended with pay while preparing for a June 1 retrial of a corruption case against him. Ellis is accused of illegally pressuring county contractors for campaign contributions. Ellis has denied wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty. A hung jury resulted in a mistrial last October.
The tie-ins that still exist will boost the pay and benefits of some DeKalb County judges and other officials from $8,500 to just over $11,000 a year.
“In the past, the train of salaries was always tied to the Superior Court judges,” said Oliver, a lawyer, like all the leading sponsors of HB 279. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have commissioners or the CEO on that train. I think you can make a logical argument that the judiciary should be tied to the Superior Court judges. I don’t think you can make that argument with the executive branch.”
Fayette Commissioner Steve Brown takes a dim view of the raise issue, although he stands to benefit from the bill. County commissioners there will get a raise, along with State and Magistrate Court judges and the solicitor.
Brown said he didn’t know he would get about a $1,000 salary increase out of HB 279. But he said any raise paid for by local taxpayers should be approved by the Board of Commissioners, not state lawmakers.
“I’m a big proponent of getting it out there in front of people,” Brown said. “You should have to have some sort of public vote (by the local government), give the public a chance to talk about it.”
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