Will judicial pay raise result in fewer retirements in 2008?
Rumors are rampant that a fairly large number of district court judges plan to retire before the next election. If the proposed pay raise of 30% is approved, will some judges hold on for a few more years in hopes of increasing their retirement pay?
NRS 1A.440 provides the following:
"Determination of monthly allowance for service retirement. Except as otherwise required as a result of NRS 1A.400 or 1A.410:
1. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a monthly service retirement allowance must be determined by multiplying a member of the Judicial Retirement Plan's average compensation by 3.4091 percent for each year of service, except that a member of the Plan is entitled to a benefit of not more than 75 percent of his average compensation.
2. For the purposes of this section, "average compensation" means the average of a member of the Plan’s 36 consecutive months of highest compensation as certified by the Court Administrator if the member is a justice of the Supreme Court or a district judge, by the county if the member is a justice of the peace or by the city if the member is a municipal judge."
A district court judge who is currently making $130,000, and who is entitled to the maximum benefit based upon longevity, would be entiled to retirement pay of $8,125 per month($130,000/12 = $10,833.33 x .75 = $8,125). If the pay raise is approved, the judge is re-elected and the judge serves three years of the new term, the judge would be entitled to retirement pay of $10,562 per month($169,000/12 = $14,083 x.75 = $10,562). Assuming my math is correct, assuming I understand the retirement benefits, and assuming the pay raise is approved, existing long-term judges would stand to earn an extra $2,400 a month by sticking around for a few more years.