Court furloughs to have broad impact, officials say
Published: Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 4:59 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 4:59 p.m.
Sonoma County court workers soon will join hundreds of thousands of other state employees in being forced to take unpaid furloughs one day a month as part of the state’s efforts to close a $26 billion budget deficit.
But Superior Court judges, whose $179,000 annual salaries are set by statute, can decide individually if they wish to forego 11 days’ pay and join other state workers in bearing some of the budget burden.
“I anticipate that most if not all of the judges will engage in some form of voluntary pay cut,” said presiding JudgeGary Nadler.
On Wednesday, the state Judicial Council, which oversees the court system, voted to shut all courts to public business on the third Wednesday of every month from September through July 2010.
The move affects about 230 state employees in the Sonoma County courts, including file clerks, courtroom assistants, court reporters, bailiffs, private security personnel, commissioners and judges in both the civil and criminal courtrooms.
Court administrators must negotiate with employee unions, but have suggested layoffs would be an alternative to an acceptance of the pay cut, which amounts to a 4.2 percent salary reduction.
The furloughs, coupled with mandatory furloughs already implemented on non-union and management employees, are expected to save $2.4 million, said Denise Gordon, Sonoma County’s court executive officer.
Nadler said each of Sonoma County’s 17 judges can choose whether to voluntarily have the state reduce their pay during the furlough period.
The county’s six court commissioners, whose salaries are $152,000, will voluntarily give up their pay, Gordon said following a meeting with them Thursday.
Court offices, where lawsuits and legal motions are filed and the public can access court records, will be closed on furlough days, as will all criminal and civil courtrooms.
“It will certainly be an inconvenience for the public and an inconvenience to the courts,” Nadler said. “The work doesn’t slow down, the number of cases doesn’t diminish. It’s just now the time we have to handle those is reduced.”
Gordon said she anticipates the closures will affect the civil side of courts more than the criminal side because criminal justice takes priority.
“We have a lot of pro pers (people representing themselves). The service just won’t be provided,” she said. “It will just be further backlogged. It will be an inconvenience to jurors, too.”
In a separate effort to increase revenues, a previously approved increase in fines and court fees will soon go into effect, Gordon said.
The furlough implementation doesn’t affect public defenders and prosecutors, who are county employees. Some said on Thursday that the courts closure would be good for them, allowing them a day to catch up on their caseloads.
The days off also will impact private attorneys, who won’t be able to conduct court business on furlough days.
“This affects my whole office,” said Andy Martinez, a criminal defense attorney in Sonoma County. “It’s another day off where we’re not working and bringing in any money.
Court workers Thursday were expecting to hear from their union leaders on what the closures will mean to them. Unions have scheduled meetings of their members over the next two weeks.
Gordon said she hoped agreements can be worked out within the next few weeks.
Judge Nadler said the courts have weathered budget problems before and have no choice but to trim services.
“We’ve faced different versions of this problem in the past,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can do to minimize the effect on the public.”
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