Court Funding
State’s Chief Judges Granted Only Limited Powers
 to Eliminate Court Positions in Budget Crisis

By: Jordana Mishory
Daily Business Review
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.

Justice Needs Guaranteed Money Source, Judge Says

By Bill Dipaolo
Palm Beach Post
May 10, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — Unless Florida ensures financing for courts statewide, the judicial system will be "severely impeded" during the next decade, State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente said Saturday.

Budget cuts that Florida legislators made to state attorney's offices have required cutbacks for prosecutors, public defenders and magistrates in Palm Beach County and statewide. Pariente expects the cuts to increase in coming years.

"We should establish dedicated funding through filing fees for court cases," she said. "Otherwise, we are looking at possibly a breakdown in the system for our citizens."

Pariente, chief justice of the state's high court from 2004 to 2006, made the comments after she and state Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince spoke with students during a program entitled A Conversation With Judges. The Civil Rights Unit of the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office sponsored the event.

Quince, who will be the first black woman to lead the state high court, is set to become chief justice in July.

Before Pariente, who was named to the state Supreme Court in 1997, voiced her concerns over the courts, the two judges outlined their careers.

Quince told the students that she had not aspired to be a lawyer as a child. The Virginia native graduated with a degree in zoology from Howard University and wanted to be a doctor.

"I got interested in law in the 1960s and 1970s, with Kent State, Vietnam and civil rights," Quince said.

Several students said the chance to see the trailblazing Quince, who was appointed to the high court in 1998, brought them to the 11th floor of the county courthouse Saturday.

"My mom dragged me here, but I'm glad I came," said Timotheus Granger, 15, who dressed in a suit and tie.

"She's a real inspiration," the teenager said of Quince. "I think I might be a lawyer someday."

Pariente, who practiced law in West Palm Beach before becoming a judge, said there were hardly any female lawyers - and even fewer female judges - when she was growing up in New York.

Rosemary Barkett became the first woman appointed to the Florida Supreme Court in 1985.

"Growing up, the only role model I had was Perry Mason," Pariente said jokingly.

Pariente, whose goddaughter will graduate from Dreyfoos School of the Arts this month, was recently at the center of a controversial decision by schools Superintendent Art Johnson.

Dreyfoos students had asked Pariente to speak at their graduation ceremony. Johnson, citing his policy of no guest speakers, denied the request.

The decision ignited a fight that played out in the Web pages of Facebook and in Dreyfoos classrooms, where students wore black in protest.

When asked about the flap Saturday, Pariente politely deflected the question.

"I was flattered to be asked," she said. "I want to be very judicious about the whole thing."

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