LANSING – Low pay is at a crisis point for the Michigan Supreme Court, whose justices will soon make less money than lower court judges in the Michigan Court of Appeals, Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack said in a sharply worded letter released Tuesday.

"Addressing the 19-year pay freeze is critical," McCormack said in a letter to the State Officers Compensation Commission — a body that met Tuesday to consider pay recommendations for not just the Supreme Court, but for the governor, lawmakers and other state officials.

The justices are paid $164,610 a year — the same as what they received in 2002. If an increase is recommended and approved, under the state constitution it won't take effect until 2021, after the next election. Judges of the Michigan Court of Appeals, who receive annual increases while Michigan Supreme Court justice salaries are frozen, now make $160,694.

"No one serves on the Supreme Court because of the salary — but some never consider service because of the salary, and some serve only briefly because of the salary," the chief justice said.

"The result is that the people are ultimately shortchanged and the long-term stability of the court is undermined."

McCormack said appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court used to cap a legal career, but increasingly it is becoming a stepping-stone to a more lucrative job in the private sector. Similar appeals have been made in recent years by her predecessors as chief justice.

The commission, which met in Lansing on Tuesday, is expected to meet once more before making any pay recommendations. The panel is awaiting clarification from the Attorney General's Office about whether it must make just one recommendation encompassing all proposed pay adjustments for all the top positions, or whether it can make a series of separate recommendations, such as one for justices, one for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state, and a third for lawmakers.

That question is important because the Legislature can only accept a recommendation in its entirely or reject it entirely. It can't partially implement a recommendation from the commission.

The commission has frequently recommended pay hikes for Supreme Court justices and other top lawmakers, but no increases have been approved since 2002, when the state constitution was changed to require an affirmative vote by the Legislature for recommended increases to take effect. Before that, recommended increases took effect automatically unless lawmakers voted down the recommendation.

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"The problem has been political," said McCormack, who suggested the best chance of getting an increase for the justices through the Legislature is to craft a recommendation that includes an increase for them alone.

Pay for judges of all state courts below the Supreme Court, from the Michigan Court of Appeals on down, used to be tied to Supreme Court justice pay. But that changed in 2016, when the Legislature passed a bill tying pay increases for lower court judges to those that state employees receive.

Since then, lower court judges have received annual raises, while the salaries of Supreme Court justices have remained frozen. That's why Michigan Court of Appeals judges could soon make more than the higher court justices who can reverse their opinions.

Since they last received a raise, justice salaries have declined by nearly $50,000, when adjusted for inflation, while state employee salaries have grown by 40%, McCormack said in her letter.

The commission received a report Tuesday with salary data for eight other states selected by staff as relevant for comparison purposes when setting salariesfor all of Michigan's top elected positions.

Of those states, only Wisconsin's Supreme Court justices have a lower salary than Michigan's, at $147,403.

Among all states, Michigan's Supreme Court justice salaries rank 35th out of 50, according to the staff report.

Michigan's governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and lawmakers also haven't received a raise since 2002, and their salaries were cut 10% in 2010.

Currently, the governor gets a salary of $159,300, with a $54,000 expense allowance. Four of the eight comparison states have a higher governor's salary than Michigan, where the governor's salary ranks 12th highest in the nation. The lieutenant governor gets $111,510, with an $18,000 expense allowance. Four of the comparison states have higher lieutenant governor salaries and Michigan's national ranking is 18th.

The attorney general and secretary of state each get a salary of $112,410.

Six of the comparison states have higher salaries than the one paid to Michigan's attorney general, which ranks 36th nationally.

Four of the comparison states have higher salaries than the one paid to Michigan's secretary of state, which ranks 18th nationally.

State lawmakers receive a $71,685 salary, with a $10,800 expense allowance, down from a $79,650 salary and a $12,000 expense allowance in 2010.

Of the eight comparison states, only six have a full-time Legislature, like Michigan. Michigan lawmakers have a higher salary than lawmakers in Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin, and a lower salary than lawmakers in California, New York and Pennsylvania.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.