Before early 2012, all New York State Supreme Court Judges endured a thankless 13-year period with no pay increase. On October 15th, the state’s 1,200-plus justices officially learned that they would no longer receive money they had come to rely on- a $10,000 yearly stipend.
The $10,000 stipend, court administrators have explained, was only a “temporary accommodation,” to help the judges through the time, since 1999, that they experienced a vast reduction in their net income purchasing power.
Make-Believe Raise An Insult
The judges’ 27% “raise” was structured to be phased in over a three-year period, from $136,700 to $160,000 in 2012, and to $167,000 in 2013. On April 1, 2014, the full 27% “increase” is realized, topping at $174,000.
On January 1, 1999, the judges received their last raise, a 21% increase. The current “increase” is expected to cost $50 million per year.
Many judges have called their “raise” an insult as it completely fails to satisfy any component of a true pay increase, or any real offset as to the cost-of-living, over the 13-year period.
Those who preside over New York’s trial courts have significantly less purchasing power with their “increase,” and disagree with Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s characterization that the judicial pay ‘nightmare’ is over. The issue of inflation was also never substantively dealt with, and the nightmare continues for the judges.
The judges almost received a raise in the 2007-2008 budget but then-Governor Eliot Spitzer attempted to tie it to ethics reform and both measures were never voted on.
$2.5 Billion Mess
The New York Court system is a $2.5 billion machine and is not subject to the Governor’s zero-budget increase directive.
Instead of cutting waste and fraud in the court system machine, or paying judges a fair salary, administrators have been busy with other priorities.
In February of 2011, it was revealed that tens of millions of dollars were being spent on a suite of seven 400-square-foot apartments for the personal use of judges sitting on the Court of Appeals.
The $23 million renovation of the 27,000-square-foot, 113-year-old building included cherry furniture costing over $350,000.
In addition to an understandably unhappy judiciary, court administrators have also effectively reduced the take-home pay of its court officers by drastically reducing over-time opportunities. Over the years, a large percentage of court officers have relied on overtime to make ends meet.
Justice is now thrown to the wind as all court personnel scramble to close courtrooms by 4:30pm. Justice past 4:30pm is rare- usually when a witness is on the stand, for example- and onerous procedures waste the time of direct supervisors.
The judges have also faced a four-fold increase in the cost of their health insurance deductible. The New York Law Journal quotes a Bronx Supreme Court Justice, John Barone, as saying, “A lot of judges regard it as unconstitutional because it diminishes the compensation of a judge, and they have a good point.”
The inability of court administrators to fairly deal with judicial compensation has brought numerous lawsuits by judges against New York State. One pending lawsuit was brought by six current or former judges and seeks $51 million in retroactive pay.
In January of 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo voiced his anger with administrators of New York’s Court system after a budget was submitted that called for $84 million in additional spending and mentioned the closing of some courts.
Governor Cuomo may want to consider calling on all court personnel, including the folks that wear the black robes, to directly report to the Governor’s office any instance of waste and fraud within the court system.
Governor Cuomo may be the only person who can get our state judges fairly compensated.
13 comments:
You have OCA paying general supervisors that have failed multiple low level service exams,are appointed because of pure political associations and have limited eduction and experience..this sum...$120,000 a year or more. There are multiples of these supervisors and exclusively political appointees jacking up the court budget..and no one in Cuomo's audit dept has checked this out?
How do you pay people to supervise civil service employees 6 figures while their decades long history is fsilure in the most basic knowledge of a grammar school student?
This is fact folks and these leaches are working today, screwing up courthouses all over NY State..the real reason OCA does not want cameras and media roaming their secured courthouses..the media may see the horrific situations going on in NY'S halls of Just Us!
The money involved is MUCH MORE than a few billion. You have to factor in the pumping of legal fees so the monies go from business owners and other litigants to the various lawyers involved. FOLLOW THE MONEY!!
haha "Justice" Barone my ass Giuliani crony turned bandwagon democrat, you should have retired early and don't worry you have been reported to corrupt courts. 6037-99 see you in hell!
This is Cuomo's payoff to these thugs in dirty black bathrobes, who can't see that
If there was 'Ethics Reform' in New York State all the Judges and their minions would be in JAIL - JAIL4JUDGESNOW!!!
These Judges especially those in Suffolk County Courts are very well compensated by their side business of mortgafe fraud. Being perpetrated on their behalf by my ex husband. He was given court access years ago to file fraudlent mortgages on non existant homes. Uses MERS to satisfy these mortgages. Lots of untaxed cash for the men in black and others.
Similar situation to my ex. Remember former Suffolk County Legislator George Guildi? Ethan Ellner? Donald McPherson, Carrie Coakley? Dustin Dentin? S&M bondage club Manhattan? Straw Buyers? Steve Levy aka he who could not be named? Financial disclosure forms: State or County office? Which form should County Exec file? Is it a state or county position? Should the County Executive have to include his wife's business income in his financial disclosure? Even if that business is court reporting/ stenography? What if that court reporting company does 80% of Suffolk County's stenography? Any recollection of the arrests of Stephen Baranello and Wayne Prospect for selling county contract work (because they were in with high ranking Suffolk official?) Any recollection of a high ranking Suffolk County official announcement that they were not to run for re-election because a District Attorney investigation of 16 months, raised serious issues in his fundraising practices? That same DA had his own term limit repealed due to his assertion that his office was "state" not "county".
The repealed term limit also applied the Suffolk County Clerk- isn't it the County Clerk responsible for filings of MERS transactions?
The reasons that Blacks, Jews, Gays, and Women should never be Judges in the United States of America (basically the entire NY Family Court) is because:
1. Blacks are too angry, resentful, revengeful, hateful after about 400 years of slavery, don't really understand or care about the US Constitution, are inherently communist/socialist, not well educated enough, and too vengeful to mete out justice in a fair, neutral, and impartial manner - plus they tend to unload severely and unfairly on other racial minorities that are newer to the United States, such as on Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Mexicans, and even other blacks because they have a severe "Uncle Tom" syndrome where they have become an even harsher "cracker" than the slave masters of a few hundred years ago - therefore they are frighteningly more erratic and unpredictable when they are sitting on a judicial bench with the power of life and death over other people (think of a monkey holding a grenade);
2. Jews are bad judges because they are inherently scornful of the US Constitution since it is based on Christian principles, and Jews are also inherently socialist and communist (hell, they wrote the major treatises on Marxism, Communism, and Socialism) and they also don't believe in a constitutional republican form of government - since they all believe they are the chosen people and everyone else (white, Christian, black, minority, women, whatever) are inferior Goyim and Shiksas, they tend to issue "edicts" and "judgements that are almost monarchial in nature, as if a King issued them, and they often have little to no respect for the law when they issue those decisions - plus they often have absolutely no respect for Human Rights (look at what they are doing to the Palestinians over there in Israel) - so every decision they make brings us closer to their world view outlook which is the end times, where King David sits on the throne and they are the Chosen People and everyone else is enslaved to serve them and their needs;
3. Gays are bad judges because they are just mentally sick and they have sexual fantasies about molesting other men and children - they should be in a cage, rather than on a judicial bench handing out sentences of justice - their vision of the law and justice are also skewed and fucked up, and I pity anyone who has to sit in front of one of them for justice;
4. Women are bad as Judges because they are too emotional, they inherently hate men, and are angry at men, and they can not handle complex emotional issues very well - and every 30 days they go over the deep end emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, mentally, and physically - not to be trusted to be a Judge on the bench.
Sunlight my b the remedy but not if the doors of secret justice r closed. No one wants the brave task of fixing the system which is y the can keeps getting kicked down the road. Litigants need to out their judges when they do sneaky trips to manipulate cases. Its the only way to keep ones foot on their necks (figuratively). Are u still there guy dephillips?
Corruption is and allways will be in Schoarie County as it is filled with corrupt people in our courts. Try to find out any information in the Schoharie County Court and prepare to be charged by the DA for something you did not do. That's how it works here. And our child protection services are even worse. They will prosecute an honest person and not investigate people that are commiting crimes on children because they are scumbags themselfs.
Onondaga family courts are as corrupt as they get. Judges ignore due process, civil rights, constitutional rights and dont even come close to following NYS laws. As long as you know who's in charge of the district you live in, evidence doesn't matter [even falsified evidence] and one sided trials are held
What we need is the United States Attorney General to not just go after corrupt politicians in our state but the Judges and Prosecutors that are violating our civil rights everyday!
THIS IS NOT THE AMERICA I FOUGHT FOR TO BE FREE AND JUST!
Its like someone very intellegent said "Injustice anywhere affects Justice everywhere".
I agree with the Dec. 2, 2013 post.
George Bartlett and James Sackett, Mike Breen and Susan Mallory are all corrupt and play in the same septic tank and swim in the sewer.
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