Iowans should expect court system delays due to budget cuts

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus on Thursday warned Iowans to expect long delays, gaps in service and reduced access to Iowa's court system due to required “draconian” budget cuts.

Court officials announced that 105 court employees will be laid off, another 100 vacant positions will be cut, and 58 workers will see their hours reduced in the wake of deep state budget cuts.

In total, the action ordered by the Iowa Supreme Court equated to a 9.3 percent reduction in workforce.

The action follows an announcement earlier this week that all judges, magistrates and court staff members would take 10 unpaid furlough days and Iowa courthouses would be closed on those days.

“It is disheartening to lay off qualified, capable employees when inadequate funding is available to finance the cost of the workforce required to sustain and operate the Iowa Courts,” said Judge Bobbi Alpers, chief judge of the 7th Judicial District, which includes Scott, Clinton, Cedar, Muscatine and Jackson counties.

“The current cuts in personnel will impact the ability of the Iowa trial courts to provide the high quality of services that the people of Iowa deserve,” she added.

Ternus said the overall cost-cutting measures will reduce the judicial branch's fiscal 2010 operating budget by $11.4 million, or 7.1 percent, and likely will represent the sum total of the court's spending reductions.

"Despite these cuts, the judicial branch will continue to send judges to every county on a regular basis and to operate a clerk of court office in each county,” she said. “However, because we have cut the staff in our clerk of court offices so deeply, we have no choice but to reduce the hours of those offices.

“Twenty-three clerk of court offices will operate for less than 40 hours a week, and others will have reduced public hours so they have some uninterrupted time to work on backlogs,” she added.

The Supreme Court initially considered making cuts equal to the 10 percent across-the-board cut that Gov. Chet Culver ordered for executive branch agencies. But, ultimately, Ternus said the court decide a 7.1 percent reduction was “a more prudent option given the vital nature of court services,” yet it would still be sufficient to meet the current revenue shortfall.

As a separate branch of government, the judicial branch is not subject to the governor's 10 percent across-the-board cut, court officials noted.

"The court thoroughly examined and earnestly considered the actions we would need to take to meet a 10 percent cut," Ternus said. "At 10 percent, the cost in terms of public service would be enormous, decimating our workforce and crippling our ability to resolve critical cases and provide essential services. As it is, a 7.1% cut requires draconian measures that will result in long delays, gaps in service, and reduced public access to the courts."

Court officials are concerned about the impact the budget cuts will have the ongoing work with troubled juveniles and abused and neglected children, Ternus said, noting that they will try to give priority to those cases within the limits of reduced resources.

“Budget cuts, however, typically have a disproportionate effect on the judicial branch because we have no reserve funds to tap and no programs to eliminate,” she added. “We have people -- employees and judges who are the life blood of the court system -- directly providing the court services Iowans need.

“Even with a 7.1 percent cut, the judicial branch will lay off more employees, cut more jobs, and require more unpaid leave than most state offices and departments, including the regents,” Ternus noted.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court approved a fiscal 2010 budget that reduced operating expenses by $5.4 million -- resulting in the elimination of 34 staff positions along with other cost-cutting measures. With Thursday's staff reduction, there are 15 percent fewer judicial branch employees currently than there were 10 years ago, court officials said.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said he didn't have a problem with the court's voluntary 7.1 percent cut, saying it was in line with the drop in projected state revenues. He pledged that lawmakers would work with the courts next session to find the resources necessary for the judicial branch to fulfill its constitutional duties.

“These cuts, along with the 10 furlough days announced on Monday, have a disproportionate impact on the judicial branch as, unlike other areas of government, over 95 percent of their budget is personnel,” he said.