|
|
 |
|
July 4, 2009 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Court Funding
South Florida courts breathe sigh of relief
|
|
| August 28, 2008 |
By: Bud Newman |
|
tate legislators and court officials reached agreement Thursday to cancel plans to lay off approximately 240 court workers statewide, Broward Chief Circuit Judge Victor Tobin said.
“The furloughs that were going to be [announced] at the beginning of September are not going to happen,” Tobin said in a telephone interview.
The latest cuts were set to be announced in the state’s 20 judicial circuits next week and take effect Oct. 1. It would have been the second round of cuts in three months.
The cuts were intended to save about $14 million statewide, said Lisa Goodner, director of the Office of State Courts Administrator in Tallahassee.
Court officials, working with legislative leaders, decided in a conference call that “these cuts are of such a significant nature that they should not take place,” Tobin said.
He was set to announce 17 layoffs next week, and he expressed great relief that officials decided not to push ahead with the cuts.
“I feel enthusiastic,” Tobin said. “It seems we have a better working relationship with the Legislature. I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
Palm Beach Chief Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll had been expecting to announce about 14 layoffs next week and had said court operations would be more severely hurt than they were in the previous round of nine layoffs.
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince, working with state Senate leaders and Goodner’s office determined “these furloughs are not in the best interests of the judicial branch of government at this point,” Tobin said.
Asked where the money would come from to keep paying workers, Tobin said lawmakers and other officials are “going to be looking at it over the course of the next week.” However, he said a hiring freeze and scaling back travel have saved about $4 million.
Goodner said the effort to at least temporarily delay another round of layoffs was aided by July 31 letters from the chief justice to top legislative leaders.
The letters urged that the judicial branch “not be asked to reduce its budget by 4 percent over and above the reductions we have already sustained for this fiscal year.”
Quince wrote that further reductions “will substantially impair” the ability of the courts to perform their constitutional functions and “will result in significant delay in the processing of certain types of cases and place at risk the constitutional guarantee to our citizens” that the courts be open and available.
“I am very pleased,” Goodner said of the latest developments. “We are just breathing a huge sigh of relief that having to deliver this terrible news to these people next week has been avoided — at least for now.”
As for the money needed to keep people working during the state’s worsening tax shortfall, she said, “There’s not a plan on how we’re going to proceed” with that. That subject will be discussed by key legislative leaders next week.
“They just want to re-examine this level of impact on our staff,” Goodner said, referring to state Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Fort Walton Beach, the House speaker-designate and chairman of the Policy and Budget Council, and state Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey, who heads that chamber’s Fiscal Policy Council.
Layoffs would still be possible after officials decide how to proceed in the weeks ahead, Goodner warned. “It still certainly could happen,” she said.
Miami-Dade Chief Circuit Judge Joseph Farina is still worried about potential cuts.
“Please note that the court’s work is far from over,” he said in an e-mail Thursday to judges and other court officials. “A tremendous amount of uncertainty continues to exist in the state’s economic forecast, and there is no guarantee that future court budget reductions can be avoided.”
The announcement that the next round of scheduled court cuts is being delayed does not affect funding for the three South Florida public defenders, who say they have their own dire funding crisis.
Miami-Dade Public Defender Bennett Brummer said his office has applied to the governor’s office to restore a 4 percent funding holdback.
Brummer contends his office cannot provide quality representation to defendants without sufficient funding.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sanford Blake is set to rule next week on Brummer’s request to reject cases due to budget cuts. In a worst case scenario, judges could be forced to release criminal defendants because of the constitutional requirement for speedy trials.
“We’ve already reduced our budget very substantially,” Brummer said. “A lot of the damage has already been done.”
Broward Public Defender Howard Finklestein said he will closely follow Blake’s decision.
If Blake rules in Brummer’s favor, “I’ll march right behind him” and file a similar petition to stop taking some cases, Finkelstein said. Even if Brummer loses, Finklestein said he still may file his own case because staffing levels are so low.
“There is not a public defender in the state that is not in crisis,” he said.
Bud Newman can be reached at bernard.newman@incisivemedia.com or at (561) 820-2075. |
Search the archive for more stories.
|
|
|
 |
|
lawjobs Featured Ad
|
|
|
A-V Rated Ft. Lauderdale Firm seeks associate attorneys. Searching for 1-2 year attorneys experienced in general litigation - PI preferred.
Fax resume to:
954-463-6643
E-mail: asd@ bunnellwoulfe.com
| |
|
|
|
