By Joy Hampton
June 30, 2009 — Rogers County could lose four deputy court clerks this year if dollars are not found in the county budget to fund those positions.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court slashed funding to district courts resulting in the possible loss of state Court Fund salaries for Rogers County deputy court clerk positions.
Monday, Rogers County Court Clerk Candi Czaspansky asked the county to pick up the tab.
A letter from State Supreme Court Chief Justice James Edmondson to County Court Clerks issued June 17 outlined the details of the cutback.
District court budgets were reduced by 7 percent for FY 2010. The biggest blow will come in the form of salaries paid to deputy court clerks. Statewide there are 821 deputy court clerks with 306 currently financed through the Court Fund.
That number has been reduced to 238 for the FY 2010 budget. Under consideration were the number of deputy court clerks employed in the county, the number paid from each local court fund, the assigned duties of those clerks, caseload statistics of each district court, and the collections and operating expenses of the district courts.
The future does not look any better. Edmondson said FY 2011 is expected to be even more challenging than the current budget year.
This year, Rogers County took one of the biggest hits with a total budget reduction by the state of nearly 20 percent over last year’s budget.
Czaspansky submitted a FY 2010 budget request for $1,663,762 to the state. Rogers County was approved for $1,434,837.
“Last year I was approved at $1,790,372,” said Czaspansky. “They had told us, before we sent it in to decrease it, so we had already cut some, then they cut some more.”
“We did take a big hit,” Czaspansky said.
In the case of the deputy court clerks, however, Czaspansky said Rogers County has benefited from a disproportionately high number of funded positions compared to other counties.
Rogers County has a total of 23 deputy court clerks. The county funds five of those positions and the court fund paid for 18 clerks.
Tulsa County has 145 total deputy court clerks with the county paying for 130 of the positions and the court fund paying only 15 clerks.
Other counties with a disproportionately high number of Court Fund positions also saw large decreases. Muskogee County ost funding for four positions. Mayes and Creek Counties lost salaries for five positions each.
The 12th District includes Rogers, Mayes and Craig counties. Craig County lost one position bringing the total hit to the 12th District court to 10.
Mayes County has 16 deputies. Previously, 13 were paid by the court fund. That number will be reduced to eight. Craig County had five out of a total seven positions funded by the court fund. That will be reduced by one position.
Czaspansky asked Rogers County commissioners to increase her salary portion of the court clerk FY 2010 budget by $155,946 to cover the loss.
Judge Dwayne Steidley told county commissioners it would be a “huge problem if all four positions go away,” but commissioners are not sure where to find an extra $150,000 in the upcoming budget.
District courts are a “conglomeration funded partially by state appropriated dollars,” said Steidley. He said every county goes through the same process and will be affected by the reductions in some way.
“As a result of the financial situation the state finds itself in, they’ve gone in and they’ve said ‘we’re going to cut,’” said Steidley. He said to lose 10 people in the 3-county district is a heavy blow.
“District 12 was hit particularly hard,” said Steidley.
Commissioners asked Czaspansky to fund the positions out of carryover from her general fund for as long as she could. They said they need hard numbers in order to decide what the county can afford to do in response to the situation.
“A big part of what she (Czaspansky) does is collect money,” said Steidley. He said reducing the number of deputy court clerks would be “self-defeating” in that respect.
County commissioners are taking the matter under advisement.
