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Judges and court staff seek pay-grade bump for law clerk, courtroom remodel funds and budget shifts for drug testing
Summary
District court staff asked Bannock County commissioners to raise a law-clerk grade to improve recruitment and retention, requested $100,000 for a courtroom remodel and proposed moving some drug-testing and jury-amenity costs between line items.
Judges and district court staff told Bannock County commissioners they need pay, space and line-item adjustments to improve recruitment, retain experienced staff and cover indigent pretrial drug testing expenses.
A delegation that included a district judge and court administrators requested a grade increase for a law-clerk position in Judge Gaviola’s chambers. County staff described the law-clerk role as historically lower paid than a staff attorney and said that at least one long-serving law clerk who has not yet passed the bar is being paid less than comparable positions in other districts. Judge Gaviola said institutional knowledge from long-tenured clerks “is immeasurable” and that recent recruitment has been weak; she reported far fewer law-student applicants in recent years.
Court staff asked commissioners to move the law-clerk position up one grade while keeping the existing step number to improve pay parity with neighboring districts and aid retention. They said the shortage of applicants and market competition from private-sector salaries are making recruitment difficult for public-sector court roles.
On capital needs, court staff requested $100,000 for a remodel of courtroom 114 (Judge Thompson’s courtroom) and budgeted $40,000 from court trust funds for furniture. They also asked for a remodel of Room 307 (administrative/staff workspace), noting peeling wallpaper, old carpet and possible asbestos abatement costs; estimates presented ranged from $20,000–$50,000 depending on asbestos findings.
Court staff described an internal shift of budget lines: increases in office supplies (paper), reclassification of jury amenities into a luncheon/meals line for clarity, and moving training funds for clerks from jury lines to education. They also requested paying indigent pretrial drug-testing costs from the district court fund where the court holds the contract. Staff said state statute requires indigent defendants not be charged for testing until found guilty; the court currently covers about $5,000 per year for indigent testing and would like the district court fund to absorb those costs to improve tracking.
Court administrators said they had included a 3% COLA and step increases at the top of the request and that those increases appeared to be built into the department request as submitted. Commissioners asked clarifying questions and confirmed they would review the job-classification request and capital timing with facilities staff, noting staffing and scheduling constraints for building projects.
No formal vote occurred during the presentation; commissioners requested additional documentation and cost estimates for the remodels and the job-classification form.
