State chief justice stresses need for increased funding of courts

AUGUSTA – Chief Justice Leigh Saufley has told Gov. John Baldacci the courts will need emergency funds in January and a significant increase in ongoing funding to keep from further cutting services to the public.

“We are now going into our second year of cuts and are down about 20 employees,” Saufley said in an interview. “The effect of our ability to deliver justice to the public has been reduced fairly dramatically.”

Because of funding cuts in the current two-year budget, Saufley said staff positions in the various clerks’ office are down 20 positions.

She said that has led to some courthouses being closed for short periods of time and to slower response times when the public seeks help.

“I have been talking with the governor’s office about returning at least some of those positions in the supplemental budget,” she said, referring to the additional funding she will ask for to get through the end of the fiscal year that end June 30, 2005. “And we will be talking with legislative leaders once the election is over.”

Saufley has the support of lawyers across the state, said Dana Prescott of Saco, president of the Maine Bar Association. He said the public is being shortchanged by an overstressed judicial system.

“People who have had cases know just how bad it is in the courts today,” he said. “I just had a call where I had to explain to a client why their divorce is taking so long. It takes 12 to 18 months to get a trial date for someone getting a divorce.”

Prescott said delays of that length and longer also are routine for businesses seeking to resolve disputes. He said on many complex disputes businesses have paid private arbitrators a hefty price to resolve a case in a more timely fashion.

Businesses “want to get a contract dispute or whatever the matter is resolved and move on,” he said. “They can’t get a trail date in a timely manner in the courts so they – at least those who can afford it – use other means that are available to get a resolution.”

That bothers Saufley, who stressed that access to conflict resolution should not be dependent on being wealthy.

“Courts should not be fee for use systems because that means only those that can afford them can afford justice,” she said. “We have to have adequate funding to meet our obligations to the public.”

Saufley is proposing creation of a “complex litigation court” in her new services budget. The proposal would add new judges to free more experienced judges to be dedicated to complex cases that need specialized expertise.

Prescott said that would ease the caseload problems in all the courts.

Gov. Baldacci confirmed that Saufley has been meeting with him on her budget requests and that she has been explaining the staffing issues and budget problems facing the courts.

“I am concerned about the backlog at the courts,” he said. “But I can’t hold out a promise of m ore resources at this point.”

Baldacci acknowledged that fees and fines were increased substantially in the last year, and that further increases would be difficult.

He said despite the compelling case made by the courts, he is facing many competing budget requests.

“But I do want to sit down and make sure every possible alternative source of revenue is sought, that no stone goes unturned, before we talk about additional general fund revenue,” he said.

The governor said he had promised to include in a bond request funds for making courts fully accessible to the handicapped. He said if there is additional security equipment needed he also would consider putting that in a bond request. Saufley said she needs money for security staff, not equipment.

“We got equipment through a bond issue two years ago and we got some additional equipment through federal homeland security funding,” she said. “But we don’t have the staff to operate any of it.”

She said part of her new services budget proposal, which could add as much as $4 million a year in continuing expenditures, will be for security staff to operate the equipment that is already at Maine’s 43 courthouses.

“We are asking for enough staff to be at one out of every four courthouses on any given day,” she said.

Prescott said security at state courts is almost non-existent. By contrast, he said, the federal court houses not only have the necessary equipment, but also the staffing to operate it and provide security.

Saufley said the federal courts are “well-funded” and are regarded with some envy by state courts across the country.

Prescott said he is impressed with a “grass-roots” effort Saufley has launched where she and other judges are meeting with lawyers and legislators in each county to talk about the budget problems facing the courts.

“People have to realize the courts are now another social service agency,” he said. “It’s not just criminal matters they have to deal with. The courts have far more cases and far more complicated cases now then 30 years ago, but we still have the same number of judges as we had 30 years ago.”