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Bar News - June 20, 2003 Court Funding to Tighten as Legislature Finalizes Budget By: Dan Wise MORE COST-CUTTING MEASURES in the state courts – including staff reassignments and curtailment of hours and service cutbacks that will worsen delays in the issuance of court orders and other paperwork – may be necessary in the coming year. As the state budget process entered its final stages, court officials said the financial situation is serious, but that layoffs would only be considered as a last resort after all reasonable steps have been taken. At press time, a conference committee with representatives from both legislative chambers was convening to reconcile differing versions of the state budget. The House version of the budget will barely provide funding to maintain current levels of service, while the Senate version of the budget insulates the district courts from significant cost- cutting, which would put major financial pressures on the other levels of courts. Earlier this month, the Senate voted to give the judicial branch $57.5 million, while the House earlier had voted to allocate $57.2 million to operate the courts in fiscal year 2004 (starting July 1, 2003) and $58.2 million in the second year of the biennium. At roughly $57 million, court funding for the coming year represents 3 percent more than the $55.7 million the courts received in the current fiscal year. However, that increase will disappear quickly, court officials said, because 75 percent of the budget is personnel-related; mandated longevity and cost-of-living salary increases and non-discretionary increases in benefit costs will account for nearly all of the 3 percent growth. The Senate-passed budget sets apart the district court appropriation, directing that budget cuts from these courts be limited to $500,000, while $5.5 million in cuts (from the original request submitted by the judicial branch) must be borne by the other levels of courts. The Senate budget would allow the district courts to fill about 21 non-judicial support positions, including nine new positions, according to Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Director Donald Goodnow. The protection of the chronically crowded district courts is a provision that could be bargained away during negotiations between the House and Senate. (Check www.nhbar.org for updates on legislative action as it affects the judicial branch budget.) In the Supreme, superior, family division and probate courts, reassignments or even layoffs are a possibility. "We cannot reduce by attrition fast enough" to match the limitations in funding for the coming year, Goodnow said. Overall, the court system now has about 50 vacant positions, out of a non-judicial workforce of 594. Superior Court Chief Justice Walter L. Murphy said that if the final state budget resembles the Senate version, the superior court’s current level of vacancies – 15 or 16 positions – would nearly double, with more of the cuts likely to come in the larger, and busier, superior courts. "Delays in processing orders and scheduling are going to get much worse. These financial problems are taking a tremendous toll on a very dedicated workforce in the court system, and the continuing delays are going to leave many litigants out in the cold," he said. District Court Administrative Judge Edwin W. Kelly said he had not lobbied to financially insulate the district courts, and added that the separation of its budget came as a surprise to him. Traditionally, each level of court prepares its budget request and the administrative judges for each court explain their needs to the legislature. Once the budget is done, if there is a reduced bottom line, the Supreme Court and the administrative judges for each court spread out the impact of the cuts among all the levels of the courts, Kelly said. Earlier this spring, the court had proposed a $59.5 million "critical needs" budget that would have allowed the court to fill all present vacancies of support personnel. (Initially, the court had sought $64.6 million and $65.2 million for the biennium, but trimmed that request in line with the Benson administration’s budgetary approach.) More details on how the court system will cope with the financial constraints it faces will be reported in Bar News in the coming months as the judicial branch formulates its response to the final appropriation amounts.
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