ACCG Needs Your Help in Completing Salary Surveys

ACCG has been collecting data from counties over the past two months regarding salaries for coroners, magistrates, sheriffs, tax commissioners, clerks of superior court, probate judges, and county commissioners. This data is being collected to better assist our policy staff in representing county interests before the General Assembly, where legislation is generally introduced on an annual basis seeking to increase salaries for various county constitutional officers and officials.  To date, we have received data from 50% of counties, but need a much larger sample to effectively address potential increases. It is difficult to accurately represent the impact these increases will have on county governments without hard data. A subcommittee of the House Governmental Affairs Committee recently held a hearing on this data and ACCG presented the information collected to date. In that this topic will most likely reemerge during the 2023 legislative session, we need the data requested below from your county for the most recent year available, preferably 2023, which includes the $5000 COLA.  

 

ACCG is seeking detailed information on how each county calculates salaries for the following county officials (base, COLA, supplements, longevity, etc.) including:  

All requested information should be sent to ACCG Policy and Research Intern, W Wang, at wwang@accg.org.

 

The Judicial Council of Georgia has asked ACCG to survey our members regarding county salary supplements and benefits provided for or tied to superior court judges, circuit public defenders, district attorneys, and  juvenile court judges. The Judicial Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Judicial Salaries and Supplements will use this information in its work “to develop, evaluate, and recommend options for revising or eliminating the system of county-paid supplements."  This could lead to substantial savings for your county.

 

This online survey is different from the ACCG Salary Survey noted above. This survey focuses on salary supplements and benefits for the following four positions:  superior court judges, circuit public defenders, district attorneys, and juvenile court judges. It also requests information on any county elected or appointed position whose salary or benefits is tied to one of these positions via local legislation, i.e., a local Act of the General Assembly. Additionally, there are questions about assistant district attorneys and public defenders as well as chief and senior judges. The link to take the online survey is provided below.

 

Unlike most of our surveys, your county will most likely need to reach out to your district attorney, circuit public defender, and/or fiscal agent for your judicial circuit to complete this survey unless you are part of a single county judicial circuit. The Prosecuting Attorneys Council as well as the Georgia Public Defenders Council has been made aware of this survey and have instructed their members to provide requested survey information to your county upon request.

 

ACCG has been asked to present this information in September at the next Judicial Council meeting. Please submit your county’s information by August 12, 2022 to allow ACCG proper time to review and compile this information. If you have any questions about the survey or information requested, please contact Michele NeSmith at mnesmith@accg.org or at 404-992-8737.

 

Judicial Salary Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JudicialSalarySurvey