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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Ind. Courts - Lake County Council "frowns on unchanged budgets from county judges "

John Byrne reports today in the Gary Post-Tribune:

CROWN POINT -- The Lake County Council is ready to put several county judges on notice.

Unhappy with initial 2009 budget proposals from three of the four County Division courtrooms, council members said Wednesday they need to call the judges on the carpet.

"They're going to need to be corralled together for a meeting," said Councilman Tom O'Donnell, D-Dyer.

Judge Jesse Villalpando was the only one of the four to turn up for initial budget hearings Tuesday in Crown Point.

And only Villalpando presented a plan to cut positions from his courtroom, announcing he would close out three secretarial spots.

Representatives for judges Nicholas Schiralli, Julie Cantrell and Sheila Moss proposed 2009 budgets largely unchanged from this year.

That didn't sit well with the council, which is hoping to adopt a 2009 county budget $15 million smaller than this year's.

The County Division judges have also been in the Lake County commissioners' crosshairs of late.

The four are the only ones of 16 Lake County judges still chosen in partisan elections.

In a letter released this week, the commissioners said they believe state legislators will now support a statutory change to have the County Division chosen by a judicial commission and the governor, like their peers.

See this Aug. 5th ILB entry quoting an earlier, related story.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 7, 2008 09:35 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts