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February 9, 2010 |
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Budget Cuts
State court layoffs begin, 222 jobs to be eliminated
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| June 03, 2008 |
By: Jordana Mishory and Bud Newman |
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our criminal court case managers. One mental health court case manager. Four attorneys helping criminal and family judges with their legal research.
They are among the 11 administrative employees laid off in recent days by courts in Broward County to comply with state-mandated budget cuts.
Broward General Magistrate Giuseppina Miranda and her secretary also will cut their workload in half to 2.5 days a week in dependency court.
Palm Beach County courts are laying off nine people, and the 3rd District Court of Appeal is losing eight people in addition to a judge who is retiring and won’t be replaced.
“We’ve never had layoffs before, so we’re trying to adjust to it,” said David M. Gersten, chief judge in the 3rd DCA. “We’re trying to make it business as usual as much as possible.”
Miami-Dade Chief Judge Joseph P. Farina said he would not have a clear picture of the effect of the budget cuts until today. Miami-Dade courts are losing the most full-time positions in the state at 27.75.
Broward courts eliminated three vacant positions and moved four people into different jobs without pay increases. One court employee has shifted to the county payroll.
“This has been a very painful process for us,” said Broward Courts Administrator Carol Ortman. “I have been in a court system for over 30 years, and I have never encountered this type of reduction in work force ever. It’s very hard times for us.”
In Palm Beach, Chief Deputy Court Administrator Krista Garber said the court was losing 16 positions out of about 152 employees. With six vacancies being left unfilled, nine employees will be fired effective June 30. Eight were notified Monday, and the last will be told today. One full-time worker will become a part-timer.
Seven of those being laid off are full-time employees, and two work part time, Garber said.
“It will still have significant impact,” she said of the layoffs primarily affecting case management, court administration, magistrates and law clerks. The layoffs “will have immediate concerns with the case management function” for pro se filings, and fewer law clerks will mean research into questions raised by judges will take longer.
In court administration, “we have almost eliminated our human resource and training function,” she said.
The layoffs were ordered even though the Legislature added more criminal offenses in the spring session and the number of foreclosures and small claims are rising.
Cuts in salaries and benefits total $1.6 million in Miami-Dade, $1.1 million in Broward and $767,000 in Palm Beach.
Trial courts are losing 27.75 positions in Miami-Dade, by far the most in the state; 21 in Broward; 16 in Palm Beach and a total of 222.75 statewide.
Jobs that are being eliminated must be vacated by the start of the new fiscal year July 1. Some of the state attorney’s and public defender’s offices in South Florida are meeting their cuts without imposing any layoffs.
In the appellate courts, the 3rd DCA volunteered to cut positions for a judge, a judicial assistant and two law clerks with the retirement of Judge Melvia Green. Gersten said the Miami court also lost four employees in the clerk’s office and one maintenance worker, and judicial assistants have been pitching in at the clerk’s office.
At the 4th District Court of Appeal, six people were notified they will lose their jobs June 30, including three administrative secretaries, two people in the clerk’s office and one attorney. Not counting the 12 judges, the court had 74 positions last July and will be down to 63 after the layoffs and elimination of vacant positions.
“It will slow down the process in the post-conviction relief cases,” incoming Chief Judge Robert Gross said in an interview. “I don’t think the public will notice a difference in the quality of the cases at all.”
Broaching the idea of more cuts, he said, “It would be very bad.”
In response to the cuts, the 4th DCA is cutting the operating hours of the court’s public areas, such as the library and clerk’s office, closing at 4 p.m. rather than until 5 p.m. starting July 1.
Appellate Judge Martha Warner said the cuts “may slow down slightly” some of the judge’s work and will slow down work in the clerk’s office.
To meet an $11.5 million salary reduction statewide, the state Trial Court Budget Commission informed chief judges and court administrators in mid-May that they would have limited flexibility.
Judges are exempt from the cuts as constitutional officers. Their judicial assistants, senior judges, top court administrators and chief court technology officers also would not be touched, leaving court administrators, case managers, law clerks, and general magistrates and their support staff.
Chief judges had to submit their proposed cuts to meet the mandatory reductions by May 23. The commission responded to all proposals by late last week.
At a Friday luncheon, Broward Chief Judge Victor Tobin pleaded with the lawyers in attendance to consider hiring employees the court was laying off.
“If anyone needs someone competent on their staff, we’re letting lawyers go,” Tobin told the crowd before a speech by Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero. “We would love to give you their applications.”
Tobin did not return a call for comment Monday.
Both the Broward state attorney’s and the public defender’s office said they managed to avoid layoffs through attrition.
“We’ll not be cutting anybody, we’ll not be furloughing anybody, we’ll not be closing the office — not even one hour,” Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said. The office has hired eight lawyers in the face of 22 openings and hired replacements for two open staff positions.
“The truth is there is no good news here for the community because the quality of services rendered by the public defender and state attorney will be severely diminished this year,” Finkelstein said.
Monica Hofheinz, executive director of the Broward state attorney’s office, said some vacant jobs are being eliminated. The office is replacing attorneys but has 21 support staff vacancies. She is planning to keep the jobs vacant out of fear of more cuts.
Even without layoffs, Hofheinz said morale is down.
“In general, state employees are not seeing any salary increases, any cost-of-living increases. But just like every other citizen out there, they are seeing food costs increase and gas costs increase,” she said. “It’s a tough morale.”
Palm Beach County Public Defender Carey Haughwout said she is not laying off anyone, but she has not been able to fill several vacancies.
“The impact has not really been felt yet,” but it will be in late summer or early fall “when we will have to decline taking cases” if we don’t have enough staff to represent people properly.
She said her office handles about 50,000 cases a year and the number is climbing as her staff shrinks
Jeanne Howard, Palm Beach County’s chief assistant state attorney and the office’s executive director, said the office avoided layoffs through attrition.
A hiring freeze imposed last November means the office is down at least 11 attorneys from 120 and down 14 support staff positions from 140 before the freeze.
“The biggest unit that had to be dissolved was our crimes against children unit,” she said. The unit’s cases were transferred to others, and there are fewer prosecutors in the economic crimes unit.
“The cases [to prosecute] are coming in at a greater rate than we’ve ever had before,” Howard said.
With fewer attorneys handling more cases, speedy trial rules may result in more dismissals. Prosecutors must take misdemeanors to trial in 90 days and felonies in 180 days barring continuances that don’t count against the deadlines.
In the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, spokesman Ed Griffith said 35 vacant positions won’t be filled, and most of them are slots for lawyers.
“People leave, and the likelihood of filling those positions is dim,” he said.
State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner said her office is hearing more budget cuts could be on the way based on state tax collections.
“We’re trying to be real clear with judges and staff across the state that the state is still in a serious fiscal situation, and that we don’t know what is coming next year,” she said in an interview.
Jordana Mishory can be reached at jmishory@alm.com or at (954) 468-2616.
Bud Newman can be reached at bnewman@alm.com or at (561) 820-2075.
Billy Shields also contributed to this report. |
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