Brevard Clerk of Courts Office faces budget, staff cuts

A nearly $700,000 cut in state funds to the Brevard County Clerk of Courts Office will result in reduced staffing at clerk's offices around the county.

That, in turn, is likely to mean it will take longer to pay a traffic ticket, request court documents, apply for a passport or marriage license, or transact other business with the Clerk of Courts Office.

"We're getting hammered" by the cuts, Brevard Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis said. Customers will "have longer lines and longer waits on the phones."

To reduce spending, Ellis said he plans to put 60 to 70 of his 330 employees on a 10-week unpaid furlough, beginning July 20.

Additionally, his entire staff still on the payroll will be working reduced hours — starting July 6 and running through Sept. 28 — working 72 hours, instead of 80, during each two-week pay period.

"All performance standards will pretty much be thrown out the window, as we work to survive," Scott wrote in emails to his staff. "We have lost employees over the years to a fixed or reduced budget, with rising insurance expenses, and this is finally a cut which cannot be overcome by technology substitutes. We will do the best we can. August and September will be painful."

Teresa Bailey of Clermont, a senior mortgage loan officer with Affiliated Mortgage Co., was dealing with a probate issue at the Brevard Clerk of Courts Office in Viera on Friday.

She said she thought "it's kind of a shame" that the office will be required to cut staff.

"They're doing an excellent job providing services now," Bailey said, adding that she wished the state could cut back somewhere else, and provide more money for the clerk of courts operations.

Chris and Nesha Jex of Cocoa were at the clerk's office Friday submitting paperwork for their marriage license. The process went smoothly, and they were done in about 10 minutes.

But they were concerned to learn that future transactions there could take longer because of clerk's staffing cuts.

"We definitely don't need that," Chris Jex said. "Just more waiting time. It's going to get more hectic."

Staffing cuts and other changes at the Brevard Clerk of Court's Office were triggered by an across-the-board 5 percent cut in the current budget year's state allocation to each county's clerk of courts office in Florida. For Brevard County, that amounted to $696,306 — part of a statewide cut of $22.4 million.

But, because the cuts didn't come until the last quarter of the current budget year, Ellis said, in effect, it amounts to having to cut operations by 20 percent this quarter.

The Budget Committee of the Florida Clerk of Courts Operations Corp., which helps oversee budget matters for clerk of courts' offices in Florida, approved the 5 percent cut last week.

In a memo to clerks of the circuit court, Budget Committee Chair Stacy Butterfield cited lower-than-anticipated revenue projections from clerks around the state and a lack of "requested relief from the (Florida) Legislature." The revenue comes from such things as foreclosure case filings and traffic tickets.

"The committee recognized the dramatic impact such a reduction will have on all clerks, especially with only three months remaining in the fiscal year," which ends Sept. 30, Butterfield wrote.

Clerks of courts in each county will decide on how to handle the budget cuts.

Among specific reductions Ellis is implementing in Brevard:

•His Merritt Island office will close through Sept. 28, with one employee temporarily assigned to the Tax Collector's Office there, specifically to handle traffic and license issues.

Scott said office hours at other clerk of courts offices will not be reduced, though the number of people staffing the counters at any particular time likely will.

•Cutbacks in court clerks assigned to civil court cases.

In contrast, Ellis said, criminal court cases will remain a priority in staff deployment.

•Ending off-site traffic hearings after July.

•Putting on hold implementation of an online court records system until November or December.

As part of a major statewide change in access to court records, the Brevard County Clerk of Courts Office originally planned to switch to the new system on July 1.

"It is pointless to go live without the staff to handle the redaction that will be required," Ellis said.

Ellis said staff not on furlough "will be shifted between departments and between branches, There are no other options. We'll have people splitting time, as well as moving elsewhere, through Sept. 28."

Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge John Harris said there is "no doubt, the reduction in funding and the subsequent cutbacks outlined by Mr. Ellis are significant, and will create majorchallenges for the judiciary."

"It's too early to know how these proposed changes will directly impact our courts," said Harris, whose circuit includes Brevard and Seminole counties. "However, I'm confident the clerk will do his best to minimize the disruption of services and ensure the efficient administration of justice."

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 and dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54.