REFILED Feb. 14, 2019: Minnesota judges are seeking a raise.
The Minnesota Judicial Branch budget request for the 2020-21 biennium is $44.7 million, a 6.38 percent increase from the previous biennium request.
State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba detailed the budget request to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Division Wednesday. The division took no action, but will re-consider it when the division receives its budget targets.
The request includes a 3.5 percent increase in salary and benefits for Judicial Branch staff and judicial officers in each year of the biennium. The Minnesota District Judges Association made a separate request for a 5 percent salary increase for trial court judges in each year of the 2020-21 biennium. That request was unchanged from the request the association had previously made to the division on Jan. 23.
The request includes funds needed to add two new district court judges at a total cost of $1.7 million.
Shorba said that the budget request represents the increase in funds needed to “provide efficient and cost-effective judicial services to the citizens of the state.”