Prosecutors ask pay panel to increase salaries

Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, who is also president of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association, holds up his report calling for an increase in prosecutor pay while speaking Thursday to the Independent Citizens Commission.
Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, who is also president of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association, holds up his report calling for an increase in prosecutor pay while speaking Thursday to the Independent Citizens Commission.

Arkansas' prosecuting attorneys asked the state's Independent Citizens Commission to raise their pay by more than 23 percent, a bump that would make their annual salaries the equivalent of 95 percent of what circuit judges are paid.

The commission last month approved salary increases for Arkansas judges and most constitutional officers, including more than doubling pay for state lawmakers.

The state's 28 elected prosecuting attorneys were left out of the language in the voter-approved amendment that created the panel, however, so the task of setting their pay was assigned to the citizens commission through a bill passed during the legislative session.

In a presentation to the panel Thursday, Pulaski County prosecuting attorney and president of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association Larry Jegley said setting prosecutor pay at 95 percent of circuit judge salaries would be fair and would reflect the job's heavy workload.

"We earn our keep," he said, calling the number of cases prosecutors handle "staggering" and saying the responsibilities are wide-ranging.

All but three of the state's prosecutors currently make $123,162. The requested increase would amount to a 23.4 percent raise to $152,000. That figure is 95 percent of the $160,000 the pay panel approved for circuit judges, who got an about 14 percent raise from the $140,372 they were making previously.

Jegley noted judges have better retirement benefits and that more than 40 percent of circuit judges serving today worked previously as a prosecutor or deputy prosecutor. Jegley said more equalized pay might keep prosecutors offices from being a "a farm club for the judiciary."

"This state needs and deserves career prosecutors," he said. "Make it possible. Make it attractive for people to be career prosecuting attorneys."

Three of the state's prosecutors currently make 85 percent of the salary the other 25 are paid and are allowed to practice limited, private civil cases outside of their prosecutorial responsibilities. Jegley said he had no official position on what the pay panel should do with those positions, though he noted they have traditionally been paid the 85 percent amount.

The commission made no recommendation but will discuss the prosecutor pay at its next meeting on April 30. Chairman Larry Ross said afterward he wanted to further study the prosecutors' recommendation before deciding if he would support it.

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