OFFICE qthe ATTORNEY GENERAL 

GREG ABBOTT 

January 22,2003 

The Honorable Bruce Isaacks 

Denton County Criminal District Attorney 

P.O. Box 2850 

Denton, Texas 76202 

Opinion No. GA-001 2 

Re: Whether statutory county court judges in 

Denton County are entitled to receive benefitreplacement pay as part of their annual 

compensation (RQ-0576-JC) 

Dear Mr. Isaacks: 

You have requested our opinion as to whether statutory county court judges, including 

probate judges, in Denton County are entitled to receive benefit-replacement pay as part of their 

annual compensation. 

Section 25.0632(c) of the Government Code requires Denton County to pay each statutory 

county court judge in that county a salary that is equal to the salary paid to a Denton County district 

judge: “The judge of each [Denton County] statutory county court and statutory probate court shall 

be paid annual compensation equal to the annual compensation, including all supplements, paid from 

any public source to a district judge in the county.” TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 8 25.0632(c) (Vernon 

Supp. 2003). The current appropriations act sets district judge salaries at $101,700 annually. See 

General Appropriations Act, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 1515, art. IV, 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 5411, 5935. 

In addition, the Denton County Commissioners Court may supplement each district judge’s state 

salary in an amount “not less than $2,400” annually. TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 5 32.061 (Vernon 

1988); see also General Appropriations Act, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 15 15, art. IV, 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 

5411, 5939 (referring to county supplements to district judges’ salaries). 

Certain district court judges also receive benefit-replacement pay from the state. Since 

December 3 1,1995, chapter 659, subchapter H of the Government Code has required each state-paid 

judge to pay his or her own contributions to the social security program. See TEX. GOV’T CODE 

ANN. 8 606.064(a) (Vernon Supp. 2003). In lieu of state-paid social security contributions, which 

the state previously paid, the state includes benefit-replacement pay as part of the salary of a statepaid judge who held office on August 3 1, 1995, and who “was eligible for state payment of 

employee tax . . . on that date.” Id. $0 659.121(3)-(4), 659.122. Accordingly, for each pay period, 

a district judge who qualifies for benefit-replacement pay receives an amount equal to the sum of: 

An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Printed on Recycled Paper 
The Honorable Bruce Isaacks - Page 2 (GA-0012) 

(1) 5.85 [%] of the compensation earned by the . . . judge 

during the pay period, subject to [a] limit provided [in section 

659.123(b)]; and 

(2) an additional amount equal to the retirement contribution 

paid by the employee or judge because of benefit[-Ireplacement pay 

provided by this subsection. 

Id. $ 659.123(a). In the context of the benefit-replacement pay statutes, the term “compensation” 

means “salary or wages subject to tax under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.” Id. 5 

659.121( 1). Section 659.122 of the Government Code provides that benefit-replacement pay is part 

of a state-paid employee’s salary. See id. 5 659.122; Tex. Att’y Gen. LO-97-010, at 5. 

You state that “four of the six current Denton County district court judges” held office on 

August 3 1, 1995 and receive from the state an “additional annual sum of $1,026” for social security 

and retirement system contributions, or “benefit-replacement pay.“’ Those district judges who took 

office after August 3 1,1995, do not receive benefit-replacement pay. A county judge in your county 

asserts that each of “Denton County’s seven statutory county court judges [is] entitled to an 

additional $1,026 annually, which would make [his or her] annual compensation . . . equal to the 

total annual compensation” received by each of the four district judges who receive benefitreplacement pay, but more than the total compensation received by a Denton County district judge 

who does not receive benefit-replacement pay. Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. 

As we have noted, section 25.0632(c) requires that a “statutory county court and statutory 

probate court Ijudge] shall be paid annual compensation equal to the annual compensation . . . paid 

. . . to a district judge in the county.” TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 8 25.0632(c) (Vernon Supp. 2003) 

(emphasis added). The article “a” in the phrase “a district judge” suggests that all of the district 

judges receive the same compensation, when, as you have indicated, they do not. We construe the 

statute to require Denton County to pay a statutory county court judge who held office on August 

3 1,1995, the same compensation as that of a district court judge who held office on the same date. 

Such compensation includes benefit-replacement pay. Likewise, a statutory county court judge who 

did not hold office on August 3 1,1995, is also entitled to receive the same compensation as a district 

judge who did not hold office on that date. In the latter case, that compensation does not include 

benefit-replacement pay, if payment of such benefit-replacement pay would result in the statutory 

county judge’s receiving more compensation than a district court judge who took office after August 

3 1,1995. As Denton County Judge Don Windle, a legislative resource witness, explained the 1995 

bill that amended section 25.0632(c), the bill included “salary parity provisions . . . that make the 

judges’ salary exactly the same as a state district judge at any and all times forever more.” Hearings 

on Tex. S.B. 240 Before the House Comm. On Judicial Aff airs, 74th Leg., R.S. (Mar. 28, 1995) 

(testimony of Denton County Judge Don Windle) (tape available from Senate Staff Services); see 

also Act of May 19, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 328, 8 2, sec. 25.0632(c), 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 

2831,2832. 

‘Letter from Honorable Bruce Isaacks, Denton County Criminal District Attorney, to Honorable John Comyn, 

Texas Attorney General, at 1 (July 8,2002) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereinafter Request Letter]. 
The Honorable Bruce Isaacks - Page 3 (GA-0012) 

In our opinion, the manifest intent of the legislature in enacting section 25.0632(c) was to 

equalize the compensation of similarly situated district and statutory county court judges. 

Consistently with the Code Construction Act’s admonition that legislative enactments are intended 

to achieve “a just and reasonable result,” TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 8 3 11.021(3) (Vernon 1998)’ we 

conclude that a statutory county court judge in Denton County who held office on August 3 1,1995, 

is entitled to receive benefit-replacement pay. A Denton County statutory county court judge who 

did not hold office on that date is not entitled to receive benefit-replacement pay, if payment of such 

benefit-replacement pay would result in the statutory county judge’s receiving more compensation 

than a district court judge who took office after August 3 1,1995. 
The Honorable Bruce Isaacks - Page 4 (GA-0012) 

SUMMARY 

A statutory county court judge in Denton County who held 

office on August 3 1, 1995, is entitled to receive benefit-replacement 

pay. A Denton County statutory county court judge who did not hold 

office on that date is not entitled to receive benefit-replacement pay, 

if payment of such benefit-replacement pay would result in the 

statutory county judge’s receiving more compensation than a district 

court judge in Denton County who assumed office after August 3 1, 

1995. 

Very truly yours, 

BARRY R. MCBEE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

NANCY FULLER 

Deputy Attorney General - General Counsel 

RICK GILPIN 

Deputy Chair, Opinion Committee 

Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee