February 6,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood
Trenton NJ, State lawmakers were back to their old tricks on Monday quietly advancing legislation that would raise the salaries of judges, county prosecutors, gubernatorial Cabinet members and senior legislative staffers, passing the bill out of committee without a single word of discussion.
The measure, sponsored by state Senate President Steve Sweeney and two of his top Democratic allies giving the governor the ability to boost the salaries of all his Cabinet members from $141,000 to $175,000 a year.
The new legislation would allow for higher pay for the four top legislative staff members, enshrining in law the right of the Assembly speaker, the Senate president and each of the minority leaders to pay their top aides up to $175,000.
The salaries of all state judges, Supreme Court justices, prosecutors, surrogates, county clerks, registers of deeds and mortgages and sheriffs would increase by $24,000. The hikes would be phased in over three years in $8,000 increments. Further raises would be linked to the consumer price index.
County prosecutors and Superior Court judges now make $165,000, and Supreme Court justices about $186,000, while the chief justice makes about $193,000. Current salaries vary for the other positions.
If you want qualified lawyers to trade in high paying salaried jobs at law firms for a judicial appointment then you have increase pay. Not sure about the rest.
sorry tax payers cant afford it
Are these the people who order up traffic jams to punish political enemies? Uhh, they don’t need pay raises….
Hello Van Emburgh (aka “CC”)!
If you want lawyers to feed you campaign contributions for years in exchange for a judicial appointment that gives you a lifetime pension, you might want to bump the rate up a little bit. BUT you shouldn’t forget when you tried to make them pay part of the cost of medical coverage, like other State employees, they took you to court and won. Don’t expect much from Sweeney, he’s like a box of rocks.
Hey they do what they like!