Judge: Cuts could be ‘dire’

With 96 percent of the state’s judicial branch budget targeted for salaries, any lapse in funding by the Legislature would be troubling, District Judge Dan Creitz told Iola Rotarians Thursday.
Fiscal year 2016 starts July 1 and faces a $600 million deficit.
Creitz said his court and all others among the 31 judicial districts, as well as state-level courts, might be faced with working until funds run out — and then shutting down.
That could be devastating, he said. Courts would be obligated to release inmates awaiting court appearances that couldn’t be honored, he gave as an example of the repercussion.
Few in the judicial system understand financial concerns more than Creitz, who has been involved in presenting the branch’s financial needs to legislators the past several years. Creitz has spent 15 days in Topeka this year testifying and answering legislators’ questions.
“I’ll be back there on Monday,” he said, with no idea of what may shake out. “It’s fluid,” changing day to day.
The Kansas Judicial Branch provides equal access to justice for Kansans in all 105 counties and depends on less than 1 percent of the state general fund. The branch has about 1,500 non-judicial employees and 247 judges, with three vacancies to fill. The judiciary has operated with at least 80 fewer employees than authorized for the past five years.
In a typical year, 400,000 cases are heard. Daily collections from those cases average $600,000.
Each county provides funding for working space and equipment, which is in addition to state funding for salaries.
Creitz said the judicial branch’s budget had not been fully funded since fiscal 2009. Judges have not had raises since 2008; during the same time, employees have had one raise, 2 percent in 2014, which was offset by 1 percent retirement cost increases that year and in 2015.

CREITZ ALSO discussed Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), led in the 31st District by director Aimee Daniels and a handful of volunteers, and drug court, which is a means of educating adult drug offenders and preparing them to deal with their problems without incarceration.
CASA was the brainchild of now retired Judge Fred Lorentz, Fredonia. Volunteers assist children involved in in-need-of-care cases, and ensure children’s rights are not infringed.
“It has benefited a lot of kids,” he said.
Drug court isn’t unique to Allen County District Court, and might not have become a component without the urging of Tom Williams, when he was Allen County sheriff.
Williams came to Creitz with the drug-court idea. “I didn’t want to do it,” Creitz said, citing state funding only for treatment but none for salaries and a substantial increase in his staff’s work load.
After a study began, Creitz said he saw advantages and embraced the idea, deciding “it was something we needed to do.”
Since its inception two years ago, drug court has handled 48 cases and “is sure to go over 50 this year,” Creitz said. “It’s helping a lot of people; Tom (Williams) was right.”
Much of the instruction is one-on-one, with Creitz having a lead role.
“You all should come to a graduation,” he added, where each participant speaks about what the drug court option has meant. “They tell about their accomplishments and for some it is the first time anyone has ever told them they did a good job.”