Van Zandt County district judge seeks raises, reporter pay and building improvements in budget pitch

Judge Chris Martin, Van Zandt County district court judge, asked the county commissioners court on Friday to include larger pay increases and facility improvements in next year’s budget while keeping contingency funds to cover infrequent, high-cost legal expenses.

Martin said he was requesting a 5% across-the-board pay increase for his court’s staff and described line-item reductions elsewhere in his submitted budget. “I would respectfully request 5%,” Martin said.

The judge told the court he had trimmed many operational line items and left personnel costs largely intact. He said the court’s indigent-defense contract attorneys cover roughly 98% of indigent criminal defense work and that only about 2% of defense costs are paid on an hourly basis when contract attorneys are conflicted out. Martin said he had accounted for potential hourly-pay needs — for example, in capital cases where outside counsel may be needed — by leaving about $50,000 to $60,000 as a contingency and another $15,000 for unusually costly hourly appointments.

Martin also raised recruitment concerns for court reporters, who he said are in short supply statewide and command higher pay in neighboring jurisdictions. He described a statutory restriction that could limit what a newly hired reporter can be paid relative to the prior incumbent and said he wanted “headway” in the budget in case a reporter leaves. Martin said he had compared pay rates with other counties and argued that competitive salaries were necessary to retain staff.

On judicial compensation, Martin said state law allows counties to supplement the state salary of district judges and that the maximum county supplement has recently increased. “The supplement was $18,000. It's moved to $25,000,” he said, saying the change followed a law signed by the governor and that he has received supplemental pay from the county in the past to align his pay with a peer judge.

Martin also urged commissioners to consider facility improvements at the Paul Michael Building, listing jury-room size, restroom access and parking as operational shortcomings that affect court operations and juror convenience. He said the district court had been displaced for months after a ceiling failure in a prior year and that the court still experiences leaks that require patching.

Discussion only: Commissioners asked about tradeoffs between raises and building projects; no formal vote or budget allocation was taken at the hearing.

What happens next: Martin’s requests will be considered as part of the county’s budget consolidation process; commissioners said revenue projections due in July will shape final decisions.