CARSON CITY, Nev. (Legal Newsline)-Even amid the state's budget woes, Nevada judges are set to receive a $30,000 annual pay raise.

With the raise approved by state lawmakers in 2007, Nevada Supreme Court justices will earn $170,000, while district judges will see their pay increase to $160,000.

In all, the pay raises will cost the Silver State an estimated $2.8 million annually, and will put the state's jurists among the top paid judges in the nation. It will be their first raise since the 2001 Legislature boosted judges' pay.

The National Center for the State Courts says California pays its judges the most, at $218,237 a year for its Supreme Court justices and $178,789 for superior court judges.

State judges in Montana are the lowest paid, at $105,185 for Supreme Court justices and $99,234 for those on district courts.

Nevada struggled against a $1.2 billion budget shortfall in the state's two-year spending plan. To make ends meet, officials borrowed money, cut programs and drained the state's rainy-day fund, among other measures.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.