By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
SALISBURYó State-recommended budget cuts to the judicial system could be more costly and time- consuming for people involved with the court system.
Court operations and its programs account for one of the largest categories in the state budget, behind health and education. To balance the budget, some programs in the court system may be eliminated or cut.
Two of the programs that the state says could be affected are family court and drug-treatment court. Rowan would not be affected, though, because the countyís court system does not have a family court, nor does it have an adult or juvenile drug court.
Chief District Court Judge Charlie Brown said Rowan has been on a short list for those courts for about two years, but it has not received a family court. Rowanís juvenile drug-court program ended a few years ago.
Rowan uses a mediation program to resolve custody disputes, a system that has been in place since the 1980s, Brown said.
He said more than 50 percent to 60 percent of cases are ěsuccessfully resolved in mediation.î
ěIt would be a tragedy if custody mediation would be eliminated,î he said.
Custody mediation losses would mean more custody cases in district court, which could mean more time would be needed to sort out the issues, said Sharon Gladwell, communications director with the Administrative Office of the Courts.
ěThe longer the custody case takes, the harder it is on all parties involved, especially the children,î she said.
Budget cuts to custody mediation will have consequences that are unacceptable, Gladwell said.
She said there is no way at this point to tell how Rowan will be affected financially by the loss of these programs.
ěWe will not know the impact of any portion of the Judicial Department budget until we see the General Assemblyís proposed budget reductions,î Gladwell said.
A 10 percent reduction is currently being discussed, she said, which is about $47.7 million of next yearís $477 million budget.
Gladwell said the Administrative Office of the Courts has asked the General Assembly to credit the court system $20 million in fee increases and new fees to offset this ědevastatingî cut, which would leave $27.7 million in actual cuts.
ěThis level of cuts goes far beyond court programs such as custody mediation,î she said.
The Salisbury mediation office is staffed by two part-time mediators, for an equivalent of one full-time employee position. The total appropriation for of the Custody Mediation Program is $2.78 million, the majority of which is for the mediatorís salaries. Right now, the program has 42 mediators statewide.
In Rowan, 231 cases were mediated last year from July 2009 to June 2010; a mediator prepared draft parenting agreements in 150 of those cases.
Superior Court has a dispute resolution program in the form of mediation as well, but the program is not affected by state budget cuts because the parties using the system pay for mediation, said Superior Court Judge Anna Mills Wagoner.
ěThe budget will not affect our system at all,î she said.
At the same time, Wagoner said she would hate to see the court system lose custody mediators.
Wagoner was District Court judge in Rowan when this area joined a few other counties with custody mediators.
ěIt saves families and children the agony of a long drawn out process,î she said.
Many cases handled through mediation are brought to resolution much faster, Wagoner said.
ěIt has saved time, valuable time to litigants and attorneys and money for litigants who donít have to pay for a long custody trial,î she said.
Wagoner believes losing the mediation program would have a ěsevere detrimental impact on our court system.î
The state proposes to reduce the Guardian ad Litem administration. Guardians advocate and act as a liaison for neglected and abused children.
ěNot only is the Rowan County custody mediation program an alternative to litigation, which effectively promotes and protects the best interest of the children in the middle of custody disputes and not only do Rowan County Guardian ad Litems skillfully investigate and advocate the best interest of abused and neglected children, these programs are core services of the Rowan County courts and are vitally important,î Brown said.
Wanda Allen, who works with the former court improvement program, to ensure families are reunited, deals with the courts, social services and guardian ad litem.
Allen called the Rowan Guardian ad Litem program very vital.
ěIt will be difficult, very difficult to be fair to the children. Some of the kids may not have a guardian. They (guardians) are only looking out for whatís best for child,î she said.
The guardianís main purpose is to look out for the child, Allen said.
She estimates a guardian volunteer is assigned to more than 80 percent to 85 percent of abuse and neglect cases that involve children.
Rowan District Attorney Brandy Cook said she does not anticipate her office will be negatively impacted in regards to personnel.
ěThe Administrative Office of the Courts has indicated that we are now funded at 81 percent of our workload to staff ratio and that we still need more staff in this office to handle the caseload,î Cook said.
She added the District Attorneyís Office and the community can be affected in many ways by the budget proposals.
ěOne proposal is to eliminate the Technology Division within the Administrative Office of the Courts, which may affect our computer system statewide,î she said.
Another proposal, Cook said, is to reduce the habitual felon law so that repeat offenders who are eligible to be prosecuted as a habitual felon would not be punished as severely.
Some prosecutors met with legislators urging them to take a closer look at the Indigent Defense Services budget.
Cook said across the state district attorneyís offices have had eliminated positions and legislators should look to other budgets, particularly the Indigent Defense Services.
ěDistrict Attorneyís offices handle 100 percent of the criminal cases while Indigent Defense Services handles between 50 percent to 60 percent of criminal cases,î she said.
Private attorneys are typically retained for the remainder of the criminal cases.
According to information provided by the Office of Indigent Defense Services in Durham, prosecutors who met with legislators last week were ěmisleading.î
The Office of Indigent Defense Services said their budget is lower than prosecutors purport.
District Attorneys have access to vast resources of the SBI and law enforcement.
Clerk of Court Jeff Barger and his staff recently felt the sting of budget cuts.
Barger received a memo from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts in Raleigh in February that detailed a voluntary buyout. Two senior employees from the clerkís office accepted the buyout and retired early, eliminating two positions. The buyout was established to help with a $3.7 billion shortfall facing the General Assembly.
Barger said this week, he does not expect any other reductions or eliminations to his department.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.