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Lawmaker Responds To Judges Warnings On Budget Cuts
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Published: February 21, 2008
NEW PORT RICHEY – Don't be so fast to complain.
That was state Sen. Victor Crist's reaction Wednesday to the news conference earlier that day at which Sixth Circuit Chief Judge Robert J. Morris Jr. said planned state budget cuts probably would lead to furloughs of Pinellas and Pasco court employees in May and June.
Crist, R-Tampa, chairs the Senate Committee on Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations, the panel that oversees court budgets. He is a member of the Pasco County Legislative Delegation.
He knew nothing of the proposed cuts until Tuesday, Morris said Wednesday.
In response, Crist said in a telephone interview today all state personnel had been warned of looming budgetary cutbacks.
"We told them to hold back 4 percent in October," Crist said, referring to money for agencies such as the courts in the state's fiscal 2008 budget, which ends June 30.
The Legislature has been cutting spending as the slump in the state's economy has been reducing the flow of tax revenue into state coffers.
Moreover, the courts have seen a 12 percent increase in their budgets over the fiscal years 2006 and 2007, Crist said. Among other things, the extra money paid for building repairs, updating equipment, travel and hiring staff, Crist said.
Even with a 2 percent cut last October and the 4 percent cut scheduled for May and June, the courts are still coming out 6 percent ahead, Crist asserted.
"If they weren't shutting their doors a year ago, why are they doing it now?" he asked.
Representatives of the chief judges of all 20 judicial circuits in Florida sit in on all the justice appropriations committee meetings, and discussion about budgetary cutbacks have been a matter of public record, Crist said.
Crist thinks there is a method behind the complaints from Morris and other judges about the latest budget cuts. "I believe they did this intentionally so they could challenge us in the courts," he said.
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