LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Superior Court is planning additional changes to its operations in the face of its latest budget cuts.
Like courts across the state, Lake County’s court is facing major budget shortfalls in light of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to the judicial branch statewide.
With the 2012-13 state budget now approved, the court is anticipating a cut in the new fiscal year of about $515,000, or 12 percent.
Court Executive Officer Mary Smith said the court doesn’t yet have the final cut number; the $515,000 figure is an estimate at this point.
Since the 2010-11 fiscal year, the Lake County Superior Court’s budget has been reduced by 26 percent, according to a court report.
It’s a substantial amount for the small court, which had a total budget last year of about $3.6 million.
Smith said the court isn’t yet certain if the coming fiscal year could bring more cuts.
“It’s hard to say,” she said. “The word seems to be that this will be it. But I think anything goes at this point.”
In June, the court announced that – effective Aug. 6 – it was moving Judge Stephen Hedstrom and his Department 4 court from the Clearlake courthouse at 7000 A South Center Drive to the Lakeport on N. Forbes Street, as Lake County News has reported.
Smith said that move is going forward, with Judge Hedstrom’s Department 4 to take over what has been Department A on the fourth floor of the Lakeport courthouse.
During a public comment period on the changes, Smith estimated the court received about four or five comments.
There also are additional changes to court service on the horizon, including court closures and staff furloughs.
Smith said court officials are hopeful that they’ll avoid cutting positions in the new fiscal year.
As part of its plans to spare its 29 employees from layoffs, the court plans to close the court clerk’s office and all courtrooms for a total of 16 days during this new fiscal year, the court reported. All of the closure days will be unpaid furlough days for staff.
Beginning Oct. 1, all court clerk public counters and telephones will close at 1 p.m. daily. That’s a further reduction from the current daily closures at 2:30 p.m., which has been in effect since September 2009.
Proposed court closure days for the remainder of 2012 are Oct. 5; Nov. 2, 19, 20 and 21 (Nov. 22 and 23 are judicial holidays); Dec. 7, 24, 26, 27 and 28 (Dec. 25 is a judicial holiday). In 2013, closure days are Jan. 4, Feb. 1, March 1, April 5, May 3 and June 7.
There will be no staff available and no drop box service in Clearlake on the closure days; any emergency matters or filings must be handled in Lakeport. There will be minimal staff available at the Lakeport Courthouse to handle emergency matters only.
The court said a drop box will remain available for routine filings from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Lakeport.
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