Mississippi's judicial system has amoney problem.
Judges, lawyers andSupreme Courtjustices met withMississippi House committeemembers on May 26, most asking for cash infusions next legislative session to continue their operations. The Administrative Office of Courts is "getting close," said director Katharine Surkin, to running out of money to pay its employees.
Mississippi's judges, from the county level to the Supreme Court, receive a minimum amount of money from the state's general fund each year. That amount is dictated by a Mississippi statute that hasn't changed since it was enacted, Surkin told the legislators.
But judges make more than the statutory minimum outlined in the law. That's where the Judicial Systems Operation Fund comes in, Surkin said, to make up the different between the state's general fund payment and the amount that judges are required to make by law.
Including fringe benefits, Surkin said, the special fund pays for more than half of all judges' salaries. That percentage will likely increase next year when judges will receive an average raise of around $13,000 thanks to a Mississippi Senate bill.
How much more?:Pay raises for judges too much, some Mississippi legislators say
The special fund allotted solely for the Office of Courts isn't enough to keep up with rising judge salaries, Surkin said, and she requested for the legislators to consider raising the amount of general funds directed toward judicial payments. Some of the representatives in the hearing, including committee chair Rep. Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia, seemed reluctant to commit more money from the state's pot given the special fund.
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"There have been instances of agencies wanting to go all the way back to special funds … then changing their minds and wanting to go back to a special fund," Cockerham said. "I've always had a bit of heartburn in increasing the general funds for a particular source if there is a special fund available."
The special fund had been helpful, Surkin said, but there isn't enough money coming in. Counties are supposed to collect case filing fees, which she noted have not been increased since 2008, and direct them to the Department of Finance and Administration, which routes it to the Administrative Office of Courts.
There is some money unaccounted for, Surkin said. In 2024, for example, the office should have collected around $4.7 million in filing fees for the fund, but it ended up with around $4.2 million instead. She estimated that around $1.5 million has not been accounted for in the last three years alone. However, because each county has its own method of sending in money and the Office of Courts doesn't have a way to track it, she said she couldn't identify which counties were underpaying the fund.
The Legislature could take a few courses of action. It could, as Surkin requested, increase its general fund contribution to the fund, which would be difficult in a slim state budget that seems to be getting slimmer. Lawmakers could also increase case filing fees, which has been debated in both chambers in recent years.
Without an increase in funds, Surkin warned, regardless of their source, the department was on the precipice of not being able to catch up with the judicial pay raises coming out of the Legislature.
Bea Anhuciis the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered the Mississippi Legislature since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger:Courts ask Mississippi Legislature for more money to pay judges