By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press

ALBANY - New York Chief Judge Hon. Jonathan Lippman is doubling expense allowances to $10,000 for the state's judges, who are working an 11th straight year without a pay raise.

The special compensation, first set at $5,000 last year by then-Chief Judge Hon. Judith Kaye, covers items like travel, unreimbursed medical expenses, robe dry cleaning and judicial license plates. The allowance will now cost the state about $13 million.

Most of New York's 1,300 state-level judges are taking the allowance as a taxable lump sum, said David Bookstaver, spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.

"This is not meant to replace a pay raise," which remains a top priority for Lippman, Bookstaver said Wednesday. Lippman sees the increase as making "an untenable situation slightly more tenable," Bookstaver said.

Lippman notified judges of the increase last week during a video conference, Bookstaver said.

The increase to $10,000 - roughly 7 percent of salaries - took effect yesterday, but the money will be part of the next fiscal year's budget request. Checks won't be distributed before April, Bookstaver said. Reports that the increase will be funded through reductions in court-officer overtime pay are inaccurate, he said.

A justice in state Supreme Court, the state's main trial court, has a salary of $136,700. Judicial officials have proposed raising that by about $30,000 to the level of federal trial judges, with others rising proportionately. Pay now ranges from $108,800 for full-time city-court judges to the chief judge's $156,000.

The Legislature has backed judicial raises but tied them to their own, a politically sensitive point, and failed to pass either for more than a decade.

That has resulted in three lawsuits pending before the Court of Appeals. Court spokesman Gary Spencer said arguments are scheduled Jan. 12.

Lippman, presiding judge at the seven-member top court, is also a plaintiff in one of the cases, which was originally filed by Kaye. He won't participate in the ruling, Spencer said.

The judges argue that their pay has been reduced by inflation. The state constitution provides for an independent judiciary with adequate pay that cannot be diminished during a judge's term.