Prosecutors ask panel for 23 percent pay raise

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas prosecutors asked an independent panel for a 23 percent pay raise on Thursday, arguing the move would make them more in line with the state’s judges and help attract talented attorneys to the job.

Larry Jegley, president of the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association, asked the Independent Citizens Commission to raise most state prosecutors’ salaries from $ 123,162 a year to $ 152,000. The seven- member panel was formed last year to review and adjust salaries for Arkansas’ top elected officials.

Jegley said the raise would mean prosecutors would be paid about 95 percent of what circuit judges receive, which is $ 160,000

“Make it attractive for people to be career prosecuting attorneys … For the future, you want to get people of good conscience, people of the highest integrity and legal ability to serve as your prosecuting attorneys,” Jegley, the prosecuting attorney for Pulaski and Perry counties, told the panel.

The association recommended the pay raise for the 25 prosecutors who serve full time and did not issue a recommendation for the three who are allowed to also work in private practice. Those three are paid $ 103,058, which is roughly 85 percent of the other prosecutors’ salaries.

The commission last month voted to more than double legislators’ salaries and granted substantial pay raises to constitutional officers and judges. The salaries for the posts had previously been set by the state Constitution, which allowed the Legislature to make annual cost- of- living adjustments. The legislative pay raises were contingent on lawmakers ending the up to $ 14,400 in office reimbursements they had previously received, a practice that a new state law has ended

The Legislature last month voted to expand the commission’s authority to also set salaries for prosecutors. The commission’s initial recommendation is due May 15.

Larry Ross, the commission’s chairman, said the panel may vote on its initial recommendation at its next meeting on April 30. Ross declined to say whether he agreed with the prosecutors’ recommendation.

“I think it’s something worthy to look at,” Ross said.