LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Those who find themselves jailed this weekend may have a longer stay until their arraignment hearings.

Due to state mandated furloughs for the judicial system, the Laurel County Circuit Clerk’s Office and Laurel District, Circuit, and Family courts will be closed on Monday, Aug. 6.

The closing of the court system will affect arraignment hearings usually scheduled for Monday mornings in Laurel District Court. It will also affect anyone wishing to receive or renew drivers’ license or other legal issues handled through the Laurel Circuit Clerk’s Office.

Roger Schott, Circuit Court clerk, said the court system will have three unpaid days off between August and October. The first, of course, will fall on Monday, Aug. 6. The second day of the three-day furloughs mandated by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) will fall on September 4, the Tuesday following Labor Day. The third furlough day will be on Monday, Oct. 15.

A press release from Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. states the three furlough days will affect only non-elected court personnel in the Kentucky Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, circuit court, district court, offices of circuit court clerk, the Administrative Office of the Courts, and all court services including Pretrial Services, drug court, the Court Designated Worker Program, court interpreting services, the state law library and drivers’ license branches. Non-elected personnel will not get paid; while elected personnel will continue to be paid.  The furloughs are mandated through the Judicial Branch’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Reduction Plan.

One major effect of the furloughs will be that trials and court proceedings will not be scheduled on furlough days and pretrial officers will not work on furlough days. The Supreme Court ruled that defendants have to be interviewed by pretrial officers within 12 hours after being jailed, but due to the mandated furlough days, this ruling is suspended.

No bonds or release orders can be processed on furlough days due to deputy clerks not working and court designated workers will also be unavailable on furlough days. A supervisor for the court designated workers will be available to assist law enforcement personnel involving arrests and custody of juveniles.

The furlough days will also affect the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office who oversees the bailiffs and court security that work within the judicial center.

The Kentucky General Assembly reduced funds to the Judicial Branch by $25.2 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012 and running through June 30, 2013. While the three furlough days were announced for 2012 last Friday, more furlough days could come in 2013. Currently, the Supreme Court and the Administrative Office of the Courts are scheduled to meet again in January 2013 to review the budget and decide if more furlough days are necessary for the remainder of the FY 2012-2013. They will also be looking at the budget for FY 2014, which is expected to have an even bigger financial shortfall than the current fiscal year.

Minton made his own comments concerning the cutbacks to the court system in this statement:

“As chief justice, I find it disheartening that I can no longer assure you the courts in Kentucky will be open when you need them. For the first time in history.....we must furlough all court personnel and close all courthouse doors because the General Assembly has not allotted enough money to fund court operations at current levels.

“The 4.3 million people in Kentucky generate nearly 1.1 million court cases each year. To meet that demand, the Judicial Branch needs only about 3 percent of the state budget. Yet since 2008 our court system has experienced a cumulative budget reduction of 48 percent,” Minton’s statement reads.

He went on to say the judicial branch downsized by 282 personnel four years ago, “leaving judicial vacancies unfilled, eliminating valuable programs such as Juvenile and Family Drug Courts, implementing broad operating cuts and streamlining the organizational structure of the AOC, the operations arm of the court system.”

Minton urges the citizens of Kentucky to voice their opinion in the issue that affects millions of residents across the state.

“The toll of underfunded courts is more than three days of customer inconvenience. Growing caseloads and declining budgets diminish the ability of the courts to swiftly and efficiently mete out justice,” Minton said. “As citizens of the Commonwealth, we need to speak up for the courts. Further financial choking will erode the capacity of the courts to carry out their constitutional duty as an equal partner in state government. The courts must be available to respond to the daily demands for justice, which is truly the most basic responsibility of state government.”



njohnson@sentinel-echo.com