Travis County courts ask for reclassification and market adjustments for judicial executive assistants and court coordinators

Judges from the county's civil, criminal and probate courts appeared together before Commissioners Court on Aug. 14 to request reclassification and market-based pay adjustments for judicial executive assistants (JEAs), court coordinators and judicial aide specialists. Judge Amy Clark Meacham (local administrative judge for civil courts) and Judge Cliff Brown (presiding criminal judge) said the positions have evolved into executive-level administrative roles that manage calendars, oversee technology, draft and file documents, coordinate hearings and help implement new state reporting requirements. The judges said the roles are essential to court operations and that pay has lagged, creating turnover and recruitment challenges. The courts asked the county to adopt the market salary study results (released to the court earlier in the process) that recommend raising the pay grade for the court coordinator/JEA series and judicial aide specialists by two grades; the courts said HRMD and Planning and Budget had been involved and generally support the market mapping, but the total county compensation pool will be decided during the countywide compensation mark-up and could create competing priorities. Judges emphasized that associate judges' salaries should be set consistently across courts (the probate judges and associate judges are tied to statutory formulas) and that JEAs have been "landlocked" while judge salaries remained depressed; the courts asked the commissioners to consider these reclassifications when the August 26 compensation discussion occurs. Planning and Budget said it will include the courts' requests on the budget agenda worksheet and reiterated that compensation decisions will be discussed at the countywide compensation session and budget mark-up; no formal budget vote was taken Aug. 14. Why this matters: Court coordinators and JEAs are central to court operations and new state mandates increase administrative workload; the courts said market-adjusted pay and reclassification are needed to retain staff and maintain timely court services.