This week, the Glynn County Board of Commissioners discussed one type of inequality rarely discussed by elected officials: pay disparities between the county’s part-time judges.
Steve Morgan, the Chief Magistrate Judge for Glynn County asked the commissioners to boost salaries for the three other judges under his supervision who issue criminal arrest warrants and hear civil suits to match increases approved earlier in the summer for counterparts who preside over juvenile and probate court.
Morgan, who took over as Chief Magistrate last summer, worked as a part-time magistrate for 23 years. The part-time magistrate judges under him earn $18,000 a year before taxes. In comparison, juvenile court judges receive $77,676 per year and probate justices earn $41,600. Meanwhile, state court prosecutors earn $79,200. The county recently approved a budget of $70,000 for a part-time juvenile court prosecutor, a private attorney, after DA Keith Higgins announced his office could no longer represent the state in juvenile court due to budget shortfalls.
“The judge in the courtroom making important decisions that affect people’s lives should not be the lowest paid person in the room, so I’m asking for an increase,” Morgan told the commissioners.
“They deserve every penny they get. I’m not here to take away from them, but we have part-time magistrates who are serving the busiest court in this county, who are the only ones on call, the only ones who have police officers show up at their house at all times of day and night to sign warrants, and I think they should be properly compensated,” said Morgan.
The county commission did not vote on Morgan’s request, a decision based partly on Glynn County Manager William Fallon’s disagreement that the magistrate court workload exceeds those of other courts.
Fallon’s argument was based on the fact that magistrate court judges spend many hours on call, rather than sitting on the bench overseeing court.
“I don’t think it’s apples to apples with when it comes to the time you mentioned how many hours were actually worked, and I get there’s a lot of on call duty that is that is being done by the part-time magistrates, and we certainly appreciate everything they do, but I don’t think it’s quite the same when it comes to actual hours that they’re spending either in the court or on cases,” said Fallon at the meeting.
The magistrate court signed 5,600 arrest warrants last year and this year they are on track to exceed 6,000 this year, said Morgan. He and his colleagues also sign off on between 500-1,000 search warrants per year.
If a suspect does not bond out, state law requires that the arrest warrants must be signed by a magistrate court judge within 48 hours.
In addition, the local Magistrate Court oversees civil claims of $15,000 or less, county ordinance violations, preliminary hearings, evictions and garnishments.
