Superior Court - budget increase requestLewis County Superior Court
LEWIS COUNTY
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5/16/2024
Lewis County Board of County Commissioners
Cc: Stacey Werner, Becky Butler, Ryan Barrett, Rieva Lester
Commissioners,
345 W Main St., 4th floor
Chehalis, WA 98532
Prior to a formal budget request, Lewis County Superior Court is seeking pre -
approval from the Board of County Commissioners regarding an increase to the
2024 Salary budget in General Fund (Superior Court, 0010-008) in the amount of
$20,000.
As of January 13, 2025, our Constitutional Court Commissioner, Paul Strophy, will be
leaving his role as Commissioner to begin his role as elected Superior Court Judge,
Department 2. As a result, it will be necessary to fill the vacancy of the
Constitutional Court Commissioner.
In consideration of the best interest of our community and a seamless transition, it
is best practice that the newly appointed Constitutional Court Commissioner can
gain in the experience of working alongside and shadowing the current
Commissioner for a period of one month (beginning in December).
As a result of overlap for the month of December, the financial impact would be
directly in correlation with one month's salary (16,169) and benefits (3,831) for an
appointed Constitutional Court Commissioner.
Lewis County pays Constitutional Court Commissioner Salaries at 85% of the judge's
salary. According to the Washington Citizen's Commission on Salaries of Elected
Officials this equates to 194,021.85/year or $16.168.49/month.
Thank you,
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Susie Palmateer, Court Administrator
Lewis County Superior Court
J. Andrew Toynbee James W. Lawler Joely A. Yeager Paul A. Strophy
Judge, Dept. 1 Judge, Dept. 2 Judge, Dept. 3 Court Commissioner
360.740.1170 360.740.1174 360.740.1172 360.740.2733