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Court Funding
State’s chief judges granted only limited powers to eliminate court positions in budget crisis
| By: Jordana Mishory |
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May 15, 2008
Chief judges were told today they have limited flexibility to decide where to cut 198 circuit and county court positions statewide — victims of the state Legislature’s budget ax in a lean year.
The state Trial Court Budget Commission with representatives from all 20 circuits convened in a packed Tampa conference room to frame the cuts taking effect July 1. Layoff notices are planned the first week of June.
Once they get back home, chief judges will be allowed to cut only court administrators, case managers, law clerks, general magistrates and the magistrates’ support staff.
Judges are exempt from the cuts as constitutional officers. Their judicial assistants, senior judges, top court administrators and chief court technology officers also will not face cuts under an $11.5 million salary reduction.
The commission will prevent chief judges from reducing any single area by more than two-thirds and voted on the maximum number of people any section could lose. An overall goal is to maintain a similar level of service statewide.
The job cuts are based on an average salary of almost $58,000 a year. Eliminating vacant positions will not be enough to avoid layoffs even with hiring and travel freezes in effect.
Despite the legislative work and court planning for cuts, the budget does not include money to pay employees for unused vacation and sick time. The Florida Office of State Courts Administrator estimates in a worst case scenario, that will cost up to $6 million.
The state Legislature required a reduction of 35 court administrators, 47 case managers and 10 general magistrate support staffers statewide. Additional cuts will be made at the discretion of the chief judges.
Under the legislative directive, the commission deemed that Miami-Dade County will lose positions for 3.5 administrators, seven case managers and 1.5 magistrate support staffers. Broward County loses three court administrators, five case managers and 1.5 magistrate support staffers. Palm Beach County loses three court administrators, three case managers and two magistrate support staffers.
Total cuts in salaries and benefits total $1.6 million in Miami-Dade, $1.1 million in Broward and $767,000 in Palm Beach.
Chief judges must submit their proposals for meeting the mandated reductions next Friday, and the commission will respond by May 30.
In other areas, each chief judge can reduce employees at their discretion as long as they don’t exceed the commission limits.
The impact of the money crunch hung heavy in the air as cuts were discussed.
When voting on the mandated cuts, chief judges were asked to think of the court system as a whole rather than their own circuits.
“The more objectively consistent we remain in making decisions, the more valid the reduction plans will be,” Chief Miami-Dade Judge Joseph P. Farina told judges and court administrators crammed around tables and on the sides of the room.
Palm Beach County Court Judge Nancy Perez wanted fellow judges to make it clear to staffers that they could not save employees by using money specially mandated for judicial conferences.
The commission grudgingly made the cuts, and the fact that no one wanted to do it was brought up repeatedly. Judges also are convinced the state will make more cuts because tax collections are not rebounding.
But Chief Orange Circuit Judge Belvin Perry, who led the meeting, said the existing court policies must remain intact.
“It’s not going to be peaches and cream,” he said. “We have not reached the bottom of this recession.”
One judge said that rumors abound that judicial assistants could leave in droves.
During a break, Chief Broward Circuit Judge Victor Tobin expressed sadness for the people who will be losing their jobs. “Why are you working for government if not for security?” he asked.
He said he doesn’t expect the public to notice that cuts are happening, but he expects rulings to be delayed and cases to take longer. He said he plans to keep family magistrates fully staffed, and he will call a judges’ meeting next week discuss the cuts.
Chief Palm Beach Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll expects family courts to be the most affected because so many litigants are not represented by attorneys and rely on case managers and court administrators.
“Cuts now are clearly being made that are not just a one-year cut. It’s a long-term change in what we’re able to offer in the justice system,” she said.
The budget woes that consumed much of this year’s legislative session will leave courts and administrators with a total of 299 fewer full-time positions, including appellate courts and state administrators, than they had last July.
The courts are losing $14.5 million in general revenue tax collections.
A projected $121 million in new court fees and costs will boost trust fund accounts.
Tax funding has been cut nearly 4.2 percent. That’s on top of a 6 percent cut the judicial branch received in the current fiscal year. Lawmakers say the boost in trust funds translates to a court budget cut of 1.6 percent below this year’s spending.
About 87 percent of the court’s overhead is salaries, which means the cuts fall disproportionately on employees.
Overall, the state Supreme Court was expected to lose five positions, the office of the state court administrator 25.5, the district courts of appeal 41.5 and trial courts 227.
But the cuts are not as bad as judges once feared. The courts and other agencies were told during the legislative session to prepare for a potential 10 percent cut. Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis said a cut of that scale would “murder” the court system.
The new $66.2 billion state budget is nearly $7 billion less than the one passed two years ago. The budget provides $369 million for circuit and county courts and $40 million for the district courts of appeal.
The courts also received a one-time general revenue increase of $200,000 for the travel expenses of any Supreme Court justice living outside Tallahassee at the discretion of the chief justice.
Lawmakers pushing for more accountability also ordered the state Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to audit the court system and judge’s workload management.
Jordana Mishory can be reached at jmishory@alm.com or at (954) 468-2616.
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