Proven, experienced trial judges are essential to justice. Mississippi is losing a good one, Frank Vollor, because again and again the Legislature has declined to pay competitive wages.

How incongruous it is that in an era when it’s been nothing for state allocations to prisoner care to rise by tens of millions of dollars yearly and state spending to blossom to more than $5.5 billion annually, lawmakers haven’t even been able to find a dime to pay judges better.

To be specific, state pay for a circuit judge is $104,170. A federal judge doing the same work is paid more than a third more, $165,200 per year.

The Mississippi Bar Association has weighed in on the topic, pointing out that pay for judges in Mississippi is the lowest among all 50 states. Cleverly, the bar dedicated the November-December edition of its magazine to the issue. Many, if not most members of the Legislature are members of the bar association and received that magazine before convening in January. But, again, it’s a “tight” year — so no raises.

Apparently, that was all Vollor could take. Four of the children of the judge and his wife, a public school teacher, have completed college and a fifth is entering. Candidly, the judge said he could not take on more debt and would return to private practice.

“I had intended to wait until I turned 65, about five more years,” Vollor said last week. “But I have a daughter who is graduating from Warren Central. She’s done well and worked hard, and I want to give her the education she deserves.”

In candor, it must be noted that not every decision made by Vollor was praised on this page. Also in candor, that’s as it should be. Never was Vollor’s integrity questioned. Never did it appear any ruling was made without serious, impartial consideration.

That’s because Judge Vollor served the people of Warren, Sharkey and Issaquena counties with a deep, personal commitment to this community where his family has lived for generations. As a U.S. Marine and a reservist, he served his nation with the same dedication.

While Vollor decided literally thousands of motions and cases, Judge Isadore Patrick pointed out that creation of the Warren County Drug Court will be his testament. “It will definitely be a legacy for him,” Patrick said. “Not just in the future but already it has shown itself as a very useful tool to the community. It has changed lives and had a tremendous impact.”

Many thought it was “soft” to allow accused felons to declare themselves addicted and enroll in lengthy and intensively monitored rehabilitation. But for one night a week every week — without a dime of extra pay — Vollor and Patrick have made the program work here.

Soon, we hope, lawmakers will realize that maintaining a quality judiciary requires a salary better than an average lawyer earns a few years out of school. We honor Vollor’s service and his decision, but we hope people remember what brought it on.