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News Release
March 19, 2009
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Contact:
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Steve Davis, Court Communications Officer, (515)
725-8058
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All Court Offices Closed Friday Due to State Budget
Problems
Des Moines, March 19, 2009— Tomorrow,
state court offices in all ninety-nine Iowa counties will be closed. This closure is the second of eight closure
days scheduled through the end of June.
The closures are part of many cost-cutting measures taken by the Iowa
Judicial Branch to cope with recent budget cuts. On March 16, Governor Culver signed a bill cutting the budgets of
most state agencies, departments and programs this fiscal year. This bill includes a $3.8 million cut in the
FY 09 appropriation for judicial branch operations.
"To cope with a budget cut
of this magnitude that comes so late in the fiscal year, the judicial branch
must take some severe steps.
Regrettably, these cuts will disrupt and reduce public access to the
courts in every county in Iowa. But
under the circumstances these problems are unavoidable," said State Court
Administrator David Boyd.
The remaining closures
days are scheduled for April 10, April 24, May 8, May 22, June 5 and June 19.
The offices closed include clerks of district court, juvenile court services,
district court administration, state court administration and the clerk of the
supreme court. On court closure days,
all court staff (approximately 1,600 people) will take unpaid leave. One day of unpaid leave for all judicial
employees except judges and magistrates reduces expenditures by $335,009.
In addition, beginning
next week clerk of court offices throughout the state will be closed to the
public on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 p.m. so clerks can catch up on case
processing and data entry.
"By providing the clerk of
district court offices with some uninterrupted work time each week, we hope to
reduce backlogs that will naturally build up on closure days," said Boyd.
In addition to closing
offices and other common cost-cutting measures, the judicial branch also
reduced travel by employees and judges throughout the state. The travel restrictions, which began
February 2, will reduce expenditures by $150,000 this fiscal year. The
restrictions will have a direct impact on citizens of counties that do not have
a resident judge, in particular, a district judge. Approximately fifty counties have no resident district judge and
depend on judges to travel to the county to hear cases. Because of the budget cuts, the travel of
judges is limited to travel for high-priority cases only, such as juvenile
cases and certain criminal cases. For
this reason, judges are not available in many counties to preside over civil
cases such as dissolutions, personal injury cases and contract disputes. Litigants must choose between traveling to a
county with a resident judge and having their case continued.
"We dislike the travel
restrictions as much as anyone because they create hardships for litigants,
attorneys and communities. But we must
work with the funds the legislature provides, which means that we had to make
difficult decisions like reducing travel, forcing employees to take unpaid
leave, closing courts for eight days and reducing court services," said Boyd.
"Hopefully, we can reinstate judicial travel beginning July 1. Nevertheless, the budget forecast for next
fiscal year looks grim so we'll continue to face difficult decisions that will
reduce public access to the courts in some way or another."
# # #
2009
Iowa
Supreme Court
1111 East
Court Avenue
Des Moines,
IA 50319
515-281-3952
