RICHMOND —
Anyone in Kentucky wishing to get a driver’s license, bond out an inmate, pay a court fine or file a lawsuit Monday will be out of luck as the court system closes down for a day to deal with budget cuts.
The judicial branch’s services will resume Tuesday morning. However, two more furlough days are scheduled this year — the Tuesday after Labor Day, Sept. 4, and Monday, Oct. 15.
While the circuit clerk’s office at the Madison County Courthouse will be closed, county-run offices will be open Monday including the county treasurer’s office, the county judge/executive’s office, and the county clerk’s office.
The county clerk’s office provides services like motor vehicle registration, election filings, marriage licenses and delinquent taxes. The deed room and dealer room will be open Monday.
The services provided by the district clerk’s office and pretrial services at the Madison Hall of Justice also will not be available Monday.
According to a news release from state’s judicial branch:
• The statewide closure includes the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, District Court, offices of Circuit Court Clerk, the Administrative Office of the Courts and all judicial services, including drug court, pretrial services, the court-designated worker program, court interpreting services, the state law library and driver license branches.
• The Supreme Court will suspend its rule requiring pretrial officers to interview a defendant within 12 hours after incarceration. No pretrial services staff will be working on furlough days.
• Deputy clerks will not be available to process bonds and no release orders will be issued.
• Existing after-hours protocol will be followed for processing DVOs and EPOs.
• Local court-designated workers will not be available. The Court Designated Worker Program will have a supervisor available at 1-855-383-0004 to ensure that law enforcement adheres to its statutory requirements in cases involving the arrest and custody of juveniles.
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 May news release from Kentucky State Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. The judicial budget was cut $25.2 million by the General Assembly.
The closures will affect 3,300 employees statewide, according to court spokesperson Leigh Ann Hiatt.
The 404 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks are not affected by the furloughs as the state constitution prohibits any reduction in their salaries.
Other measures, such as hiring restrictions, reducing some employees to part time so they are not benefit-eligible and reducing the number of drug court participants also have been implemented to reduce court system expenditures.
Sarah Hogsed can be reached at shogsed@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.
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