Two Wood County justices of the peace had their request for a pay raise denied by a committee which heard their cases last week. Precinct 3 Judge Jerry Parker and Precinct 1 Judge Tony Gilbreath brought their cases to the county salary grievance committee.

Parker was brief and to the point. “We aren’t asking for more than any other elected official, we just want to be the same as the other elected officials,” Parker said.

Gilbreath spoke about what it meant to him.

“This is not about the money. I am not sure what the rationale was for a JP’s pay to be lower in the first place, but over time it has grown to $9,229 a year less than other elected officials. Every time a percentage raise is given the gap gets bigger,” Gilbreath explained. “Don’t get me wrong because I am thankful for the 6% that was given, but I feel as an elected official we have an unfair process for pay.” 

Gilbreath said one of the reasons they had been turned down in the past was the belief they serve only one precinct.

“We don’t do just precinct work. We do all magistrations for the county from Class C misdemeanors to first degree felonies. From time to time we also help out municipal judges when they are not available,” Gilbreath said. “We do most of the warrants for the sheriff’s office and the cities; sometimes this is at night after we go home. We do juvenile detention hearings and special magistrations for juveniles. Many of these are done in the middle of the night.”

Gilbreath added, “We handle all the inquests of the county. These come at different times of the day and night. I don’t begrudge anyone for their salaries, but I am an elected official just like most of you.”

Precinct 2 JP Janae Holland withdrew her name from the grievance.

“In support of all of the Justice of the Peace Judges, I agreed to file the grievance. However, I decided to withdraw my grievance as I am not seeking a personal salary increase,” Holland stated. “I requested (and will continue) to request that my clerks get re-classified in order for them to get the same level of pay as the county and district office clerks. Unfortunately they did not get approved for the re-classification, however my clerks did receive the 6% across the board increase/raise as all Wood County employees received.”

The committee had three local citizens, Carol Boman, Nina Hammonds and Ricky Watkins. County officials on the committee were County Judge Kevin White as chairman (non-voting position); Sheriff Kelly Cole; County Clerk Kelley Price; District Clerk Suzy Wright; Tax Assessor-Collector Carol Taylor, County Treasurer Daphne Carter and District Attorney Angela Albers. Wright was absent.

Two separate secret ballots were held and the results announced by Judge White, who did not vote. The vote against Parker to receive the raise was 7-1 and on Gilbreath it was 5-3.