County court workers make plea for living wage

By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Mar 14, 2009 - 08:05:12 pm CDT (date posted on web site)

Nicole Hageman struggles to put food on the table for her two kids on her Lancaster County Court take-home salary of $1,300 a month — even with help from her parents.

“We eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese,” said Hageman, a collections clerk who has worked for the court four years.

Her kids are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid insurance coverage, called Kids Connection.

Carol Rimovsky, 50, leaves her full-time job at the Lancaster County Court every day and goes to Hy-Vee, to work until 10 p.m. She was working three jobs, she said, but when Menards cut her hours to just one evening a week, she quit.

Now she works 60 hours a week instead of 80.

Rimovsky has worked for the state three years, but got nearly $2 an hour more working part-time for Menards, she said. The mother of two — her daughter is still in college — sometimes must turn to a church pantry for food.

She’s not alone. Nearly half the Lancaster County Court employees, and those in Douglas County courts, have second jobs. And some get government assistance.

County court workers are state employees, while district and juvenile court workers are paid by the counties and in some cases make up to $3 more an hour than county court workers in similar jobs.

In Douglas County, one-fourth of county court workers get federal, state or county aid, such as food stamps or housing, and half have gone through legal proceedings, such as bankruptcy or default judgments because they were not able to make ends meet, said Leslie Douglas, court administrator for Douglas County.

Starting salary for a county court cashier clerk is $10.97 an hour.

When state employees don’t make enough to live on, it means taxpayers make up the difference in public benefits, the workers said.

Rimovsky, Hageman and a number of other court employees were eager to tell their stories after a hearing last week on a bill (LB608) before the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

The bill, introduced by Omaha Sen. Heath Mello, would increase the salaries of 390 county court workers by another 2 percent in each of the next two years — on top of the 2.5 percent raises negotiated for state workers — to move them toward more comparable salaries to county employees who work in district courts.

County court is the lowest in the Nebraska judicial system, but is thought to be the face of the state courts. For many it is their first and only contact with the court system.

Mello said county court employees are responsible for monitoring thousands of cases and ensuring they progress in a timely manner. They also are responsible for collecting millions of dollars in court costs, fines and inheritance taxes.

Since 1985, when the municipal and county courts merged, the caseload in Lancaster Counter has gone from 44,500 cases for six judges and 50 employees to 73,143 last year, with 48 employees.

Appropriations Committee member Sen. Danielle Nantkes said she was shocked when she toured the courts to see how packed they were.

“I wonder how a system like that can truly inspire confidence or trust in the citizenry,” Nantkes told Lancaster County Court Judge Jean Lovell at the hearing.

The courts frequently lose good workers they’ve taken the time to train, who take those skills to higher paying jobs. The people who stay, like 18-year employee Kathy Phillip, a judicial assistant, say they do so for the state benefits or job security.

“It’s interesting work,” Phillip said. “And like a lot of people, you just keep thinking next year (the pay) will get better.”

In 2000, the state approved a plan in which county court workers could advance a step on the pay scale each year. But in 2003, when state finances were down, it stopped funding the plan, said Janice Walker, state court administrator. And court workers’ salaries have fallen behind.

In hard economic times, the work of the county courts doesn’t diminish, it increases, Walker said.

“It’s very disheartening to me not to be able to adequately compensate people doing very good work,” Walker said.

Some staff take work home on the weekends, or come in early on weekdays and stay late, without overtime pay, Lovell said.

Nantkes said the courts are at a critical point.

“If we don’t make some changes in terms of staffing and judgeships and infusing resources … we’re going to find ourselves really in trouble as a state,” she said.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).