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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Courts - Nevada high court defies lawmakers on salaries

ILB readers may recall Indiana stories of disputes between county courts and county commissioners over who sets the salary of the court's staff. Sometimes these disputes have resulted in judicial mandates that end up before the Indiana Supreme Court.

In the State of Nevada, a similar dispute may be occurring at the state level. Some quotes from a story by Cy Ryan in the Las Vegas Sun:

Carson City — The Nevada Supreme Court has once again exerted its power to ignore the law.

A bill passed by the 2007 Legislature set the maximum salaries that can be paid to state employees, including those who work for the Supreme Court.

The court, however, says that law does not apply to it and has ordered the state’s payroll system to pay an annual salary of $135,240 to court administrator Ron Titus, effective immediately. The Legislature set that salary at $116,688, not including a 2 percent raise effective last July 1.

The court, in an order signed by all seven justices, says it “is vested with administrative control over its own affairs” under the Nevada Constitution. Beyond increasing some current employees’ salaries, the court plans to create positions not approved by the Legislature.

The court did the same thing with salaries in 1989.

With this year’s additional pay raises, the court will not exceed its overall budget. * * *

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Interim Finance Committee, which handles budget matters between sessions of the Legislature, wants the court “to tell us the justification” for the higher pay for its employees.

The Supreme Court’s action “puts a black eye on us,” Arberry said, referring to the legislative budget committees that set the salaries. Other agencies’ directors deserve bigger raises, but the money wasn’t available, he said.

He also said the court’s salary hikes reflect bad timing, coming as they do when state agencies have been ordered by Gov. Jim Gibbons to cut their budgets by 4.5 percent. The court has voluntarily agreed to reduce its budget by that amount.

Separation of powers, not mentioned in the story, would appear to play a part in this dispute.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 13, 2008 12:53 PM
Posted to Courts in general