In a meeting on Monday, May 8th of 2023 the Lee County Commission formally requested that the Lee County Legislative Delegation pass a local act which would set the salary for the Probate Court Judge at $150,000, an increase of over $20,000 from his current pay rate. Initially billed on that evening's agenda with the description "Discuss Probate Judge's Salary Increase", the commission sped through a brief discussion lasting only a few minutes and wasted no time unanimously approving a motion to send a copy of the request for the salary increase to each of the nine members of the delegation. Doug Cannon, Lee County Commissioner for District 1, had attached a supporting document to the agenda via email to construct a reasonable sounding rationale for this generous pay raise.
Cannon's document addressed his fellow commissioners "I would propose the increase be effective at the start of the county's next fiscal year in October 2023." Upon examination of this statement, the timing may seem curious since current Lee County Probate Court Judge Bill English will end his term in 2024 and is not seeking reelection. Further justification was provided by Cannon stating that Judge English is being paid less than "approximately twenty-three of his counterparts". Taking into consideration that there are 67 counties in Alabama and some of them have more than one probate judge, being at least the 24th highest paid on that statewide list puts Judge English comfortably in the top one-third of his peers in terms of salary.
Further complicating the picture, Cannon continues "the Alabama Legislature has not authorized an increase in this salary since 2000. The Probate Judge has received 18 cost-of-living adjustments provided to all county employees in the last 22 years, ranging from 1% to 5.75%, and has a current salary of $129,855, and is now the fifth highest-paid Lee County employee." In the same breath Cannon states that there has not been a salary increase in 23 years for the Probate Judge, yet his salary which started off at $75,000 in 2001 has been increased 18 times since he took office and he is the fifth highest paid Lee County employee out of several hundred.
Alabama is one of four states that do not require probate judges to possess a law degree, so while that is a nice thing to have as is the case with Judge English and many of his colleagues, it is not an absolute necessity. In the Yellowhammer state the tradition has been that the office holder would merely be expected to possess common sense and be a competent person of good standing in their community. Citizens may want to know if the probate judge will continue to be the Chairman of the Lee County Commission or if that responsibility will be rescinded going forward, meaning that they are paying more and getting less from this county employee.
Above all else, the burning question with respect to this salary increase is whether it is specific to Judge English or if going forward the next person to hold that office will be starting off at $150,000. Tony Langley, Lee County Commissioner for District 4, was contacted by the Examiner in relation to this critical concern and was unable to provide clarification as of this writing on what the salary of the next elected judge will be. Please stay tuned for further information on this developing story as we pursue full transparency regarding just how much more this office is going to cost Lee County taxpayers over the next twenty something years and beyond.
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