Council amends and approves municipal judge pay ordinance, adds community engagement incentive

The St. Joseph City Council on July 10 adopted an emergency ordinance adjusting the municipal court judge’s annual salary and amended the measure to allow the judge to participate in the FY24 community engagement incentive pay available to other city employees.

Clerk-read Item 17 requested a budget amendment to appropriate $8,202 from the general fund to the municipal court department to cover the salary increase. A speaker who identified himself only as "Ted" asked the council to postpone the ordinance and said he expected language enabling community service or engagement pay to be included. "We'd request this ordinance be postponed, for 2 reasons," he told the council during public comment.

City staff explained the ordinance sets the judge's pay at a 75% benchmark. "This particular ordinance adjusts the annual salary for the judge and sets it at that 75% level," the city manager said, and added that staff had intended to include the community engagement incentive but missed copying a council member on an email. Council moved to amend the ordinance to add the judge's eligibility for the community engagement incentive and approved the amendment by roll call.

Following amendment and brief discussion, the council proceeded with the bill and recorded the vote as carried 7-0. The budget amendment to appropriate $8,202 was included in the action.

The council did not postpone the ordinance; the amended emergency ordinance took effect on the council's vote and staff were directed to implement the pay change and associated budget amendment.