Dallas County is considering whether to supplement judges salaries for merit or cost of living in next year's budget.
County commissioners want to offer competitive pay, but operating costs are increasing by nearly $30 million, thanks to inflation and the loss of grant money.
Complicating the decision is that if salary bumps for district judges are approved, it waterfalls paycheck increases for every other judge — including those who don't show up for work or inefficiently process cases.
Assistant county administrator Charles Reed explained at a recent budget workshop that misdemeanor judges must be paid $1,000 less than the top paid district judge.
"Once you award that supplement to one district judge, every probate judge, every misdemeanor judge, every court-at-law judge gets the maximum supplement for their salary," he said.
Commissioner Elba Garcia says penalizing model judges seems unfair.
"There are some judges that have been serving Dallas County for a long time that are very good, and some of them that are not so good," Garcia said. "They're elected, okay? I cannot remove any of them, so what do I do?"
If the county declines supplemental pay increases, all elected judges still get a 7 to 10 percent raise, based on state law.
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