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Budget committee puts off decision on raises for state judges

Budget committee puts off decision on raises for state judges

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Co-chairs of the Wisconsin state Legislature's budget–writing Joint Finance Committee, Sen. Alberta Darling, left, and Rep. John Nygren, field questions before the first day of voting on the $76 billion spending plan on Monday, May 1, 2017, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
Co-chairs of the Wisconsin state Legislature’s budget–writing Joint Finance Committee, Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren, field questions before the first day of voting on the $76 billion spending plan on Monday in Madison. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

Judges around the state will be getting some kind of raise, but exactly how much has yet to be determined, leaders of a state budget panel say.

Gov. Scott Walker has proposed creating a new system for compensating judges and giving 2 percent raises to judges in 2018 and 2019, which would cost about $334,000 and leaves future raises up to the state Supreme Court.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack has been pushing for judicial raises, promising the state’s judges in her first State of the Judiciary address in 2015 that she would fight for higher salaries in the 2017-2019 budget. She is seeking a 16 percent pay increase.

The Joint Committee on Finance, a powerful panel of lawmakers, delayed voting Monday on whether to adopt Walker’s proposal.

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, the committee’s leaders, state Sen. Alberta Darling and state Rep. John Nygren, said lawmakers support a pay increase but were putting off the vote in order to do more vetting of the proposal. Nygren said the increase would be closer to Walker’s 2 percent proposal.

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