The Treasure Coast court system has 42 judges, prosecutors, investigators, public defenders and administrators who are paid more than $100,000 per year.

Circuit judges, who preside over major criminal and civil cases, are paid $145,080 per year under a state salary scale that went into effect Oct. 1, 2006. That makes Florida’s circuit judges the 11th highest paid trial judges in the nation, according to a 2008 survey by the National Center for State Courts.

But the pay of Florida’s circuit judges would slide down to 17th place nationwide if the state government enacts a Senate bill calling for all state employees earning more than $100,000 per year to take a 5 percent pay cut.

Some lawyers and judges said a $7,254 per year pay cut, combined with the increasing case load, could push some veteran jurists back into more lucrative private practice and prevent top lawyers from aspiring to the bench.

“If they’re talking about pay cuts in Tallahassee, that is adding insult to injury,” said 19th Circuit Chief Judge William Roby. “Our judges are working their tails off.”

“A judge making $145,000 a year more than likely would be making twice that at a medium-sized law firm in private practice,” Roby said. “At some point in time, if we don’t get pay raises or relief, practical aspects are going to start kicking in and judges are going to be leaving the profession.”

But Roby said the judges aren’t asking for a raise until the economy improves.

State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, said no one is immune from the fallout from the state’s budget crisis, including judges.

“We think that judges do very good work, but like anybody else in this weak economy we need to look at everything,” Haridopolos said.

“$145,000 to most folks is a lot of money,” Haridopolos said. “I think that clearly in the private practice of law there is the likelihood to make even more money, but I think (judges) are willing to give back to their community.”

Despite the long hours and relatively modest pay, the prestige of a judgeship and the opportunity to serve the public will likely continue to compel many top lawyers to aspire to the bench, Roby and others said.

“There are intangible benefits to being a judge, like your first name becomes ‘Judge,’ ” said state Rep. Adam Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie, who earned $112,634 last year as general counsel for the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s a certain respect that goes with somebody who sits on the bench.”

SIX-FIGURE SALARIES

19th CIRCUIT: Serves Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties

CIRCUIT JUDGES: $145,080 per year salary

William Roby, chief judge

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

Robert Hawley, Paul Kanarek, Robert Pegg, Cynthia Cox

MARTIN COUNTY

Gary Sweet, Steven Levin, Robert Makemson, Elizabeth Metzger, Sherwood Bauer Jr.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY

Barbara Bronis, Larry Schack, Dan Vaughn, James McCann, Burton Conner, Robert Belanger, Dwight Geiger

OKEECHOBEE COUNTY

F. Shields McManus, Lawrence Mirman

COUNTY JUDGES: $137,020 per year salary

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

David Morgan, Joe Wild

MARTIN COUNTY

David Harper, Stewart Hershey, Kathleen Roberts

ST. LUCIE COUNTY

Cliff Barnes, Kathryn Nelson, Philip Yacucci Jr., Thomas Walsh

OKEECHOBEE COUNTY

Jerald Bryant

STATE ATTORNEYS OFFICE: 150 employees

$153,140: Bruce Colton, state attorney

$147,877: Thomas Bakkedahl, chief assistant state attorney

$119,814: Nita Denton, attorney-in-charge, Martin County/Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, education coordinator

$117,838: Bernard Romero, assistant state attorney, major crimes

$116,286: Bruce Harrison, attorney-in-charge, St. Lucie County

$115,900: Patrick Gillen, assistant state attorney, felony appeals

$110,428: Pamela Robuck, assistant state attorney, Martin County Juvenile/Drug Court and Mental Health Court coordinator

$107,019: Linda Craft, assistant state attorney, major crimes/sex crimes and Jimmy Ryce Division

$105,728: Nora Pfeiffer, chief investigator

PUBLIC DEFENDERS OFFICE: 80 employees

$153,140: Diamond Litty, public defender

$146,163: Mark V. Harllee, chief assistant public defender

$118,277: John Hetherington, assistant public defender/head attorney of Stuart office

$107,151: Patricia Armold, [Lau: CQ ]administrative director/budget analyst

ON THE WEB

19th Judicial Circuit: http://www.circuit19.org

19th Circuit State Attorney’s Office: http://www.sao19.org

19th Circuit Public Defender’s Office: http://www.pd19.org

Martin County Bar Association: http://www.martincountybar.org

St. Lucie County Bar Association: http://www.slcba.org

Indian River County Bar Association: http://www.irclaw.org

Florida Bar Association: http://www.floridabar.org

Florida Conference of Circuit Judges: http://www.flcircuitconference.com

Council of County Court Judges of Florida: http://www.countyjudges.com

National Center for State Courts; state judge salary survey: http://www.ncsconline.org/D_KIS/Salary_Survey/home.asp

By George Andreassi

Tags: florida legislature, salary

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under Courts, Crime, Economy, Fort Pierce, Hobe Sound, Jensen Beach, Martin County, Palm City, Port Salerno, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.