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Commission reviews Superior Court judgeslocality-pay request and staff reallocation
Summary
County staff briefed the board on a proposal to amend FY2026 budgets to provide half-year locality pay for Superior Court judges and reallocate remaining budgeted funds to judicial staff; commissioners sought clarification on budget impacts, benefit costs and next steps for formal approval.
County staff presented a recommendation at the Aug. 13 work session to amend the FY2026 budget to provide locality pay tied to a recent state salary increase for Superior Court judges, and to reallocate remaining county funds to court staff.
Darren King, county administrator, explained the judges had opted into a state salary increase that limited any supplemental county locality pay to 10%. King said the county could provide a half‑year locality supplement of $10,053 for each of four judges for the remainder of FY2026 while reallocating other budgeted funds to judicial staff: “The request is to distribute locality pay in the amount of $40,212 to the judges for salaries and the remaining amount of $20,788 to be distributed to staff,” King said.
Judge Dent, speaking for the court, told the board the court sought to continue locality pay while using reallocated dollars to increase pay for state‑employed court staff and law clerks. He said the state salary change took effect Jan. 1 and that the county—s role is discretionary: “They went into the state, which gave them the salary increase. What they request is that you continue to get locality pay and then provide for additional breakout of some additional funds that are coming for this year to their staff,” the judge said.
Commissioners asked whether the proposed change would increase the county—s overall payroll cost or trigger additional benefits expenses. County staff replied that most affected people are state employees and that any social‑security or fringe impacts were already budgeted in existing line items; staff estimated the county would save roughly $62,220.60 for the remainder of FY2026 if the board declined the supplemental locality pay and would save about $104,000 in a full year.
The board did not take a final vote during the work session. Commissioners requested updated language for the formal recommendation and asked staff to include clarifying figures on benefit costs and options for next year—s budget. County staff said the item language will be revised and returned to the board for action at a subsequent meeting.
What happens next: staff will update the recommendation language, provide a benefits/cost breakdown and bring the item back for the board—s formal action during a regular meeting.
