‘Draconian cuts’ affect Madison County courts

RICHMOND —

The American Bar Association’s theme for this year’s May 1 observance of National Law Day was “No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom.”

This fall in Madison County and throughout the state there will be no courts for three days in which there would’ve normally been scheduled hearings, trials and motion hours. Circuit Clerks’ offices also will be closed.

This is the first time since Kentucky’s modern court system was formed in 1976 that furloughs have been imposed to balance the budget, according to a news release Wednesday from Kentucky State Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr.

“I personally think this is a poor way to treat employees,” Madison Circuit Court Judge William Clouse said Thursday after the furlough announcement. He believes the General Assembly did not consider the impact of the $25.2 million reduction in the judicial branch’s budget when passing the state’s biennium budget last month.

“Now we’re stuck with these draconian cuts,” Clouse said.

Furloughs

The state’s judicial branch will be shut down Monday, Aug. 6; the Tuesday following Labor Day, Sept. 4; and Monday, Oct. 15. This will affect 3,300 employees statewide, according to court spokesperson Leigh Ann Hiatt.

The 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks are not be affected by the furloughs as the state constitution prohibits any reduction in their salaries.

“We knew there would be some sort of cut, but it’s unfortunate it falls on the hard-working employees of the court system,” Madison Circuit Court Judge Jean C. Logue said.

The courthouse closures already have caused problems for the judges. Logue said she will have to reschedule trials set for Oct. 15. In court Thursday, Clouse attempted to schedule a criminal trial for Oct. 15 but realized the date fell on a furlough day. The judges prefer to schedule trials to start on Monday because of regularly scheduled motion hours later in the week.

Clouse noted there are several death-penalty eligible cases currently pending in Madison County.

“Those types of cases take months and months to prepare,” Clouse said.

In addition to eliminating three days of pay for employees, Minton said other cuts will go into affect at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. The judicial branch will implement hiring restrictions and require a new process to fill vacancies, as well as convert 100-hour part-time employees with benefits to 80-hour part-time workers without benefits. This will affect 122 employees.

The judicial branch has cut 282 employees statewide since 2008, according to Minton.

Clouse said many employees, including clerks and secretaries, work for low pay because they and their families need the health insurance benefits offered by the judicial branch.

“Is that the course our country wants to take?” Clouse said about cutting employee health benefits.

Besides affecting a number of employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck, the days the courtrooms go dark further delay cases on already crowded circuit, district and family court dockets.

“The work doesn’t just go away,” Logue said.

Drug court cuts

Another part of the judicial branch’s budget reduction plan is to reduce the number of drug-court participants. Drug court is for people facing criminal charges who are also struggling with drug addiction. The program has a strict regimen of steps a person must take to have his or her charges dismissed, including addiction counseling, regular drug testing and employment or enrollment in school. Drug court participants meet regularly with drug-court personnel and the judge overseeing the program. Completing the required steps typically takes participants one to two years.

“It is one of the major tools we have here in Madison County” to combat drug addiction, Clouse said of drug court. People who complete the program are statistically less likely to re-offend, he added.

Logue oversees the Madison County Drug Court. Currently, the program has 54 participants, but it will now be capped at 44, according to Logue.

“We won’t be able to take new participants for a long time,” she said. No one will be “kicked out” of the program but instead the number will decrease through attrition, the judge said. Ten people are set to graduate soon from drug court.

Clouse said it is especially troubling that one of the most successful programs combating drug addiction is being cut after the General Assembly passed a bill last year reducing sentences for some first-offense drug-possession and drug-trafficking charges. House Bill 465 focused on decreasing the number of inmates in the financially strapped state prison system while pushing toward more addiction treatment options.

“It’s a step back,” Clouse said.

Other parts of the judicial branch’s debt-reduction plan include reducing operating expenditures by $1.6 million and eliminating the Kentucky High School Mock Trial Tournament, according to Minton’s news release. In addition, Kentucky schools will now be charged $10 for criminal-record reports, which they currently receive for free. Criminal record reports for all other customers will increase from $15 to $20.

Lack of revenue

State Rep. Rita Smart, whose 81st District covers Richmond and parts of Madison County, said the Administrative Office of the Courts is not the only state agency making cuts because of the recently passed $19.3 billion budget.

“Nobody’s happy,” Smart said. “... Our courts are at the mercy of the state budget.”

Smart said while it’s important to be efficient and not waste taxpayers’ money, the blame for the budget cuts rests solely on the shoulders of the state’s “antiquated” tax system.

“There’s just not enough income from tax revenue to support the things we need in our city and state,” Smart said. Legislators struggled to create a budget that would keep the state running despite the state’s Budget Office prediction of a $742 million gap between revenue and spending over the next two years.

Smart realizes that budget cuts in the judicial branch will hurt a lot of people who are already struggling in the slow economy.

“Sometimes when (legislators) do things, we don’t realize the consequences,” she said.

Smart strongly advocates revamping the state tax system so the government, one of the biggest employers in Madison County, can prevent service cutbacks and furloughs. Legislators and experts in Frankfort have been examining the problem for several years, and Smart hopes that action will be taken soon.

“We just have an inadequate revenue stream,” Smart said.

State Sen. Jared Carpenter, R-Berea, did not return a call asking for comment on the judicial branch budget cuts.

Sarah Hogsed can be reached at shogsed@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.

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