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Editorial: Court clerks should be properly funded by state

 
Florida lawmakers managed to find plenty of money in next year’s budget for private sports academies and new shorelines for condos on the sun-soaked beaches, but court clerks — like Pinellas’ Ken Burke, above — who process traffic tickets and help domestic violence victims seek court-ordered protection? Not so much.
Florida lawmakers managed to find plenty of money in next year’s budget for private sports academies and new shorelines for condos on the sun-soaked beaches, but court clerks — like Pinellas’ Ken Burke, above — who process traffic tickets and help domestic violence victims seek court-ordered protection? Not so much.
Published June 30, 2015

Florida lawmakers managed to find plenty of money in next year's budget for private sports academies and new shorelines for condos on the sun-soaked beaches, but court clerks who process traffic tickets and help domestic violence victims seek court-ordered protection? Not so much. It's all the product of an appropriations process that funds winners and losers based on patronage and connections, and the Legislature needs to fix the system for funding court clerks before it further cuts people off from critical services.

Court clerks across the state agreed during a conference call Monday to slash their current budgets by 5 percent, a response to the Legislature's refusal to fully fund everyday operations at local courthouses. These front-line services range from helping people get a marriage license or protection order to providing the public with court records and other documents related to civil cases or government business.

Court clerks are indispensable as the go-betweens who connect people with the records they need to conduct routine business in an orderly society. But since 2009, clerks have not been part of the normal appropriations process in Tallahassee. Instead, they submit budgets to the Legislature and are financed by a trust fund fed by revenues from fees and fines. The fund swelled with filings for foreclosure during the housing crisis, and lawmakers diverted some of that money elsewhere. But now, with a $22.4 million budget deficit due to a reduction in foreclosures and other legal recordings, the clerks are hard hit for money and are being forced to slash operations and capital investments to bridge the gap.

Pinellas Clerk Ken Burke is avoiding layoffs by forcing his 310 state-funded employees to take two unpaid furlough days and cutting customer office hours across the county. Pasco Clerk Paula O'Neil has laid off two employees and halted plans for new computer technology and other spending — and she's still $200,000 short of meeting her budget. Hillsborough Clerk Pat Frank has controlled costs and will meet the $1.45 million in cuts without closing offices or laying off employees. But the impacts will worsen if lawmakers opt to shortchange the clerks again next year.

The state Constitution requires the Legislature to adequately fund the clerks through court costs and fees. But lawmakers have been siphoning those funds away for other purposes: police radios, child welfare and even wildlife programs. For example, from a $193 speeding ticket, the clerks get about $51 and the rest goes to other purposes. That forces clerks to dip into reserve funds that are supposed to finance technological improvements, not everyday operations. The net effect is clerks have no incentive to modernize and become more efficient because they need the money to keep the existing operation going. And counties like Hillsborough that routinely come in under budget are forced by a state revenue-sharing scheme to subsidize other counties that aren't as well managed.

These are core government functions that the Legislature is required to fund. County clerks also need predictable funding both to manage the budget year-by-year and to modernize for the future. Lawmakers need to quit using the court fees as a slush fund for other purposes and ensure that the clerks can provide the level of service the public reasonably expects.