Time is money.
Especially for those who are selected to serve on juror panels in Sunflower County with the Board of Supervisors’ vote to increase juror pay from $25 to $40 per day.
They also voted to acknowledge the federal rate for mileage which is adjusted yearly.
This increase will only be seen by those who are selected to serve as jurors.
“When you’re looking at paying a juror $40 a day, those are the ones that have to sit for maybe an entire week,” Sunflower County Circuit Clerk Carolyn Hamilton said. “My last trial ended at 9 o’clock on a Friday night. Now they get the same $25 as the people who showed up and we’re excused for the week.”
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston asked Hamilton what type of increase in expenses would this boost in juror pay represent.
“I’m sure my budget can handle the increase,” Hamilton said. “It shouldn’t go over what I have allocated at the time.”
Hamilton explained that she has enough money in her budget to handle the increase with the number of cases she anticipates.
“In the summertime, we barely have them because that is a hard time to get jurors to show up because of summer vacations,” Hamilton said. “A lot of the cases always continue so I don’t anticipate that being a big expenditure even in June.”
The board voted to increase the juror pay.
