Budget Cuts Could Cripple Courts
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Despite the governor’s optimism, lawmakers are still feeling the heat as they work with a budget focused on deep cuts.
The court system says if a fix isn’t found before the special session, it might have to shut down.
Lawmakers aren’t sure that people are really taking this budget crisis seriously. And the court system wants you to know that this would be catastrophic for the justice system.
Lawmakers just wrapped up the session last week, but they couldn’t agree on a balanced budget.
That means they will have to come back to fix the problem.
Montgomery Circuit Clerk Tiffany McCord wants the court system on their minds, because she’s afraid her already reduced 23 person staff could get even smaller.
“If these measures go through we’ll be down to three people. That would be a 97 percent cut to our office, a 97 percent cut to our staff,” said McCord.
She says the entire judicial system is looking at an overall 15 percent cut.
In 2013, chief Justice Roy Moore closed clerks offices every Wednesday so employees could catch up on paperwork. McCord says that won’t be enough this time around.
“We would not be having jury trials so for victims who are victims of crime, there would not be the ability to come into court and have your needs addressed, there would not be grand juries. When you think about children and permanency and whether or not their placed in a safe environment, we would not be able to process the paperwork to do so,” said McCord.
Lawmakers say they don’t believe that the public really understands how substantial these cuts could be. After talking to people in Montgomery, it seems they may be right.
“I wasn’t aware of that. It seems like you need the courts in order to take care of judicial business and stuff. I just think that’s crazy, you need to keep them open,” said Ishmale Sullivan.
