Commissioners approve joint resolution to carry 90% of local supplement for West Georgia circuit judges

Carroll County commissioners on Dec. 17 voted to adopt a joint resolution with Heard County to opt in to locality pay for superior-court judges under House Bill 85, which changed how local supplements are handled for the new West Georgia judicial circuit.

Avery Jackson explained the measure and the rationale: under the new state law the local supplement that counties had provided to judges is being incorporated into state pay. "The local supplement paid to the judges is being reduced from, what used to be $50,000 now down to 20,000," Jackson said, and the split for the newly created circuit was set so Carroll County would pay 90% and Heard County would pay 10% based on caseload allocation. Jackson said Carroll County handles about 90% of the circuit's caseload, and superior-court judges are based in Carroll County as a result.

Commissioners asked for clarification about the split and the effect of future judicial salary increases. Jackson said the statute anticipates that if judges receive cost-of-living raises, the counties' locality payments will decrease over time. After discussion the board approved the joint resolution by voice vote; the transcript does not show a recorded roll-call tally.

Heard County had approved the corresponding action at its meeting the previous night, Jackson said, and Carroll County's vote completes the local opt-in required by the statute for the circuit's locality-pay arrangement.