Beaufort County, magistrate judges headed for salary showdown

Pay for Beaufort County's magistrate judges, has increased about 34-percent in the past five years, well outpacing that of other county employees.

Additionally, the county picks up the cost of the 16 judges' health benefits, a perk not provided to some other county employees.

Now, the judges are pushing for a 2-percent raise -- in addition to the 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment given to them and all county employees last year.

Beaufort County administrator Gary Kubic argues the magistrates, 12 of whom work part-time, shouldn't get the extra money.

The judges' demand "is basically hitting us in the middle of the forehead," Kubic said. "I'm sure every taxpayer in the county would enjoy having the ability to work for Home Depot (for example) for a couple hours a week with full healthcare benefits, and that's basically what we're doing."

The fight began last summer when the county gave all its employees the 3-percent raise. That's when the judges first pointed out that they were entitled to an additional 2-percent adjustment granted in 2014 by state lawmakers.

"The whole thing is very simple," said the county's Chief Magistrate Lawrence McElynn. "The issue really has to do with a state-mandated cost-of-living adjustment that was granted to all state employees, including all judges in the state of South Carolina.

"For an administrator of a county to think he has the reach to come in and overrule a state statute is a kind of a preposterous notion," McElynn continued.

For more than 20 years, county ordinances have stipulated that "elected or appointed officials will receive mandated state salary adjustments or council-approved salary adjustments, whichever is the greater of the two."

Trapped in a standoff over whether the county or state rules apply, Kubic and McElynn have agreed to send their arguments to arbitration before retired S.C. Court of Appeals Judge Danny Pieper.

The fight is bringing to light what Kubic says is an inequity between the court and other county departments.

While much of the rest of the county's offices have tightened the belt on their budgets in recent years, increases have gone to the magistrate court and County Council-approved raises to give recently hired judges the same pay as veteran judges.

All magistrate judges, even if they work part time, also are permitted to sign up for county health benefits, whose costs have soared by millions over the past two years, Kubic said. Yet administration's part-time employees including lifeguards, parks personnel and trash center attendants are scheduled in such a way that they are not entitled to health benefits, saving the county money, he added.

Three part-time judges receive benefits that cost almost as much as their annual salary, and one judge's health benefits actually cost the county twice as much as his 2015 salary, according to a county analysis. Meanwhile, county officials were forced to cut certain retirement healthcare benefits to nearly 600 current and former Beaufort County employees and Bluffton firefighters to curtail rising costs last year.

"It just seems a little unreasonable in the totality of everything we're trying to do, especially when we are trying to save tax dollars by eliminating healthcare benefits and also reducing the numbers our part-time people are working," Kubic said.

The 2-percent raise for the judges would only cost the county an additional $15,000 per year, McElynn countered. And offering health benefits is a recruitment tool to hire attorneys away from lucrative private practices to serve on the court -- which does not require its judges to be practicing lawyers, he added.

The court handles about 30,000 cases each year, and judges, legislators and county leaders all agree the office has made tremendous strides in docket management, eliminating delays and recruiting talent to the bench.

Almost three quarters of Beaufort County's magistrate judges are now practicing attorneys, well above the statewide average of 18 percent, said state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, who nominates magistrate judges along with the other members of the local legislative delegation. He has defended the magistrate

"All of this is important because, for the vast majority of citizens, interaction with the magistrate court constitutes their sole experience with our state's judiciary system," Davis has said. "I am proud of what we've been able to accomplish."

But the argument comes down to an issue of fairness, Kubic argues.

"The two percent is not about money," he said. "The system clearly is broken, and it needs to be scrutinized and there could be a lot of room for a lot of positive suggestions as to how to run it better ... I don't think it's fair to have all of what they're asking for."

McElynn led and won a similar lawsuit against the county for three months of a state raise withheld by the county in 2011.

Both sides hope the arbitration with Pieper settles the issue, but a process exists to appeal the non-binding decision,

Should the county not agree to provide the additional raise, the magistrate judges may present their case to County Council for a decision, McElynn said. If council also sides with the county, the judges may take their argument to the state appeals court.

"It baffles me why people have the opinion that judges or magistrates are making too much money in Beaufort County when it's a feeling someone has and they've decided based on that feeling that they not only disagree with the law, but they're going to disobey it," he said. "When you take an oath of office, you can't do that ... We're all allowed to disagree with laws, but we're not allowed to disobey them."

Judge's pay in Beaufort County

A look at pay for the county's magistrate judges in 2015 show:

- The county paid nearly $11,300 for five new, part-time judges to work just one day per week.

- The county's four full-time judges earned salaries ranging from $78,500 to $82,000.

- Thirteen of the court's 16 judges have enrolled in county health benefits. Costs per judge ranged from $600 to more than $20,000.

Source: Beaufort County

Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.

Related content:

• Beaufort County Council could increase new magistrates' salaries, May 25, 2014
• Bluffton police chief of staff McCall-Tanner named Beaufort County magistrate, Feb. 26, 2014
• Beaufort County Circuit Court sides with magistrate judges in retroactive pay raise, April, 30, 2012

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Beaufort County, magistrate judges headed for salary showdown."