March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

A study panel last week recommended that the state give judges a raise and improve their pensions because Maine ranks low nationally on the judicial pay scale and Maine judges are required to work harder than their counterparts in other states. A raise to the levels suggested would be a tiny investment in a system that the state has underfunded for too long.

The Judicial Compensation Commission would have Maine raise salaries for district court judges from $79,911 to $94,000 and salaries for superior court judges from $83,226 to $94,000. Supreme court judges would receive increases from $88,004 to $100,000 under the proposal. Superior court pay in Maine ranks 35th nationally; supreme court pay ranks 41st. Maine ranks almost at the bottom nationally in judges per capita, and in turn the judges produce high clearance rates.

Raising the salaries of these judges won’t end the chronic underfunding of Maine’s court system, but it would recognize that the state values the work of its judges at least enough to pay them an average salary for their profession. While the proposed salaries are considerably more than most Mainers earn in a year, they are in line, or behind, the judges’ professional peers: the chancellor of the University of Maine System, for instance, earns $135,000 annually; a law professor in the university system earns $100,267; state commissioners, on the other hand, earn up to approximately $75,000 annually.

Because Maine has so few judges compared with other states, it relies heavily on the ones it has. To ensure that good people do not reject the chance to serve, the state would make a wise investment by keeping the judges’ salaries at least close to those of similar positions.


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