Clerk warns of delays

Local services will be hurt by cuts, Bock says

Going to court, changing a deed, getting a marriage license and handling other legal issues will likely take longer in Palm Beach County because of budget cuts made far away in Tallahassee.

State lawmakers taking more locally paid legal fees to pick up the tab for statewide expenses created a nearly $3 million budget hole this year for the Palm Beach County court clerk’s office, according to Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock.

Warning that the cutbacks will affect local residents, Bock has suggested layoffs and reduced office hours to cover the financial gap.

“It will have an immediate [increase in] waiting times and delays in our court system,” Bock said Tuesday.

The clerk’s office is responsible for handling public records as well as many courthouse operations while also watching over the county’s checkbook. Bock has about 700 employees and a $53 million budget, about $31 million of which goes toward court operations.

The clerk’s planned cost cuts also include eliminating 41 full-time and 16 parttime jobs. That includes just over two dozen actual layoffs as well as doing away with vacant positions.

Pending job offers to fill vacancies at the clerk’s office have been rescinded, overtime has been sus-

pended for many employees and Bock has also frozen most hiring.

Also, plans to put more court records online have been delayed.

Finally, the clerk’s south branch office in Delray Beach and the north branch office in Palm Beach Gardens are being closed to the public every other Friday through Sept. 30.

That translates to longer processing times for handling court records, which can mean delays for trials as well as people needing to file paperwork at the clerk’s office, according to Bock.

Palm Beach County generates more than $200 million in locally paid legal fees each year, but the clerk’s office gets to keep only a small portion of that to help with local court costs. The rest goes toward state spending.

Bock contends that lawmakers in recent years have been taking too much of the money from legal fees that counties need to pay for growing court costs, which include everything from jury expenses to managing public records.

Bock said lawmakers’ approach is to “slash and burn and see what we can rebuild.”

Legislators say counties would have more money for court costs if they were more efficient and actually collected more of the fees that are levied. But Bock says lawmakers are ignoring a state constitutional requirement to provide adequate funding for clerks.

Past spending cuts to the clerk’s office have raised concerns through the years about lengthening foreclosures and other civil court proceedings.

And county officials say deeper state cuts to the clerk’s funding could end up sticking more courthouse costs on local taxpayers.

“We don’t want this to turn into an unfunded [state] mandate,” County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said.