Orange court clerk asks for money because of pandemic
Moore Russell gets $1.5 million from county reserves
Running out of money because of the coronavirus pandemic, Orange County Clerk of Courts Tiffany Moore Russell got $1.5 million Tuesday from the county’s General Fund reserves to keep her office afloat until the financial year ends Sept. 30.
Commissioner Victoria Siplin cast the lone no vote on Moore Russell’s request for emergency cash to make up for COVID-caused losses and stave off once-a-week furloughs for the Clerk’s 410 employees. The furloughs would have lasted about five weeks.
“While we’re struggling to help those who call our offices who have lost their jobs, I don’t feel this [need] rises to the level where I think we have to dip into our reserves,” Siplin said. “Our judicial system will find a way to work, that’s our obligation.”
Moore Russell, unopposed for re-election, had planned to impose unpaid furloughs on most employees Friday.
The Clerk, whose annual salary is $170,000, also planned to furlough herself once a week, her spokesman Dain Weister said.
Her request for help was backed by Chief Judge Donald Myers, who cited the pandemic’s far reaching economic effects.
The judge said court cases of all kinds have piled up because of delays and cancellations caused by precautionary safety measures taken by state and local governments to slow the spread of the contagious virus and protect public health systems.
“At this point, we have a backlog of nearly two years worth of trial days that have accumulated already and we anticipate a tsunami of new cases due to negative economic conditions and COVID-19 specific disputes,” Myers said. “The clerks are our valued and necessary partners in processing cases and conducting other trial court business.”
Moore Russell described her staff as essential workers who live on tight budgets.
Commission documents blamed the clerk’s budget shortfall on “historic decreases in revenue” and noted other Florida clerks have money troubles, too. Most clerk operations, including Orange County, are self-funded through fines and filing fees.
Moore Russell said the financial predicament was created when the Florida Clerks of Courts Operations Corporation directed her office to pay about $7.7 million from revenues collected by her office since October to help those other clerk operations.
She said clerks are not allowed to keep reserve or rainy-day funds like many government operations.
Her office does not ordinarily receive county funding, said Eric Gassman, chief deputy under Comptroller Phil Diamond.
“The Clerk’s operating budget is funded by court costs and fees she collects,” he said.
The Clerk’s approved budget for Fiscal Year 2019-20 was $29 million, a figured later revised to $25.18 million.
Weister said the office expects a revenue drop between $3 million and $4 million because of fewer filings and court fees.