2010 Legislative Session
message from clerk bock
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO STOP $23M IN CLERK CUTS
PENDING LEGISLATION THREATENS ACCESS TO JUSTICE
On March 31, the Florida Senate passed a bill that will cut $2.7 million from the Clerk & Comptroller's budget in Palm Beach County and cause as many as 100 layoffs. This follows a 2009 cut of $7.1 million and the loss of 101 employees here in our office. More than $23 million will be slashed from clerks' offices statewide.
If this bill becomes law, service will virtually grind to a halt in courthouses throughout Florida. Justice will be delayed, as will Floridians’ access to public records.
Cuts this devastating will mean:
• It will take up to four hours to pay a traffic ticket in our offices
• Foreclosure cases will be held up
• Civil cases will languish in the system due to statutory requirements in handling criminal cases
• Hearings will be delayed because paperwork can’t be processed fast enough
You can help prevent this by contacting your legislators and asking them to make sure Clerk budgets are not cut. A sample letter and contact information is below.
Download the complete Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation roster.
SAMPLE LETTER TO SENATORS
Subject line: Oppose clerk cuts, ensure justice is not delayed
Dear Senator ____________:
As you may be aware, the Clerk of Courts’ statewide budget was cut by $46 million statewide during the 2009 legislative session. For the Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptroller’s office, the cut amounted to $7.1 million and 101 employees were laid off. This year, pending legislation threatens to cut another $2.7 million from the Clerk’s budget in Palm Beach County and they will lose 100 additional employees. Overall, this amounts to a 23 percent reduction in staff.
Here’s what it will look like to your constituents, the justice system and the business community if these proposed cuts go through:
- Branch offices in Belle Glade, Palm Beach Gardens and Delray Beach will close to walk-in customers, driving 324,000 customers to the downtown courthouse;
- The Palm Beach County Clerk’s office will lose 200,000 hours of productivity;
- Customers will wait two to four hours for service in the downtown office;
- 45 percent of the telephone calls to the office will not be answered;
- State attorneys, public defenders, judges and public safety officials will be unable to effectively serve their clients;
- The cost of doing business for lawyers will increase dramatically;
- Our local economy will experience a negative impact amounting to $691 million. (Based on a formula used by the Washington Economics Group in a 2009 study.)
Access to justice has already been severely compromised in Palm Beach County. Because Clerks are at the front end of the judicial process, their inability to function properly directly impacts the entire justice system. Further cuts will cause court cases to languish without any foreseeable resolution.
I urge you to oppose further clerk budget cuts as they will negatively impact the community you serve. Please help to ensure that justice in Palm Beach County is neither delayed nor denied.
Thank you.
[your name here, address, zip]
SAMPLE LETTER TO LEGISLATORS
Subject line: Oppose clerk budget cuts
Dear (Representative or Senator) Last Name,
Clerks of court are a critical component of the state judicial system, yet since 2007, they have endured a 10.2 percent budget cut, forcing the loss of 1,300 clerk positions statewide. In Palm Beach County, 101 employees were laid off to absorb the impact of 2009's $7.1 million budget cut; severely crippling the office's ability to deliver statutorily required services.
And while Florida’s judges have suffered only a 3.9 percent budget cut during the same time period, they, too, must be adequately funded to ensure that the state judicial system protects and serves Floridians as it should.
An unintended consequence of these cuts is the economic impact on the state. According to a 2009 report by the Washington Economics Group, “the aggregate of all quantifiable costs associated with court-related delays in civil case adjudication results in direct economic impacts approaching $10.1 billion annually.” In Palm Beach County alone, the combined impact of foreclosure case backlogs, lost interest income and case-related expenditures is estimated to be $691 million.
Please support adequate funding for Florida’s clerks. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Respectfully,
[your name here, address, zip]
General Information About Contacting Your Legislators
Correspondence may also be addressed to “The Honorable John Doe,” with your legislator’s full name replacing "John Doe."
How to Find Your Legislators