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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Ind. Courts - "St. Joseph County judges defend proposed budgets as mandates"

Nancy J. Sulok writes today in the South Bend Tribune:

Lurking in the background of the court budgets for next year is that dirty word "mandate.''

The Superior Court and Circuit budgets came up for hearing Wednesday before the county commissioners, council and auditor.

John Marnocha, chief judge of the St. Joseph County Superior Court, repeated what he had written in a letter Tuesday to the budget group.

He said he doesn't think the auditor, council or commissioners "has the ability to reject a proposed court budget.''

The courts, he wrote, "are not a county department, we are an independent branch of government which the county has a legal obligation to fund.''

Circuit Court Judge Michael Gotsch made a similar comment during his budget session Wednesday afternoon. He said he has trimmed beyond "fat and are now into cutting muscle, sinew and bone.''

"I've tried to work this thing out,'' he said. "If you tell me 'no' I may just have to say we're going to do it.''

Monday morning, Probate Court Judge Peter Nemeth made the same reference to mandating the funds that he needs.

A point of contention in both the Superior and Circuit court budgets was the amount budgeted for jury expenses.

Marnocha asked for only $100,000 for jury pay in 2009, while Gotsch asked for nothing, either for petit jurors or grand jurors.

But both judges said they know the numbers are false. Marnocha said the Superior Court budget for jurors was $215,000 in 2007, but the actual cost was $325,597.

Gotsch said he would have to add $24,000 to his petit jury fund and $1,000 to the grand jury fund to make it a more honest budget for 2009.

That prompted county Commissioner Mark Dobson, R-1st, to say that he doesn't want "a smoke and mirrors'' budget but wants honest figures.

Both judges said they hope to save money next year by sharing jury pools. Marnocha said he and Judge Jane Miller will experiment with scheduling trials on the same dates in order to use a single pool of jurors for both trials. Gotsch said he will try something similar. * * *

Marnocha said each Superior Court judge is handling 153 percent of the statewide average for caseloads. He personally has handled 26 jury trials so far this year, he said.

Gotsch said he is on his ninth jury trial this year, with two more coming up. In a normal year he has five, he said.

The ILB has had a number of entries on judicial mandates over the years. Here are some of them.

I also wrote an article on judicial mandates in 1993, titled "Separation of Powers in the County Courthouse," concerning judicial mandates other than those involving court funding.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 21, 2008 08:50 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts