By TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer |
VISTA ---- Faced with a growing backlog of stalled cases and a lack of staff
to tackle them,
And that may mean longer wait times for people who come to the county
courthouses to copy a divorce case, dispute a traffic ticket, or check on the
status of a small claims suit.
About 1,300 people walk up to the counters each day at the
Starting Dec. 1, most departments at the
Not affected by the changes are
The shorter hours are designed to give San Diego Superior Court staffers time
to dive into the piles of files that need to be addressed.
The reduced hours appear to be here for the long haul, said Michael Roddy,
executive director of San Diego Superior Court.
Blame it on the economy. The move comes because a hiring freeze means there are
fewer people to do the work.
The number of court staffers working in
Countywide, the courts have lost 4 percent of their staff though attrition.
"It's a balancing act between hours of access and trying to get work
done," Roddy said.
The backlog leaves cases sitting stagnant while clerks scramble for time to
update files. But shorter hours to service the public might mean longer wait
times for people lined up at the counters.
Among those who might be cooling their heels are couriers from Baechler
Investigative Services, which has a division dedicated to attorney services
such as filing paperwork with the courts.
Owner Tony Baechler said Wednesday that he is trying to juggle schedules to
"back everything up an hour." And it is not as easy as it sounds.
"It's actually a pretty big impact," Baechler said. "I'm sure
it's not just us. Any attorney service in the town has the same problem."
But, he said, the backlog also has been a problem for his clients, with filings
that used to take three days to filter through the internal court process now
taking as long as three weeks.
The shorter public access hours are part of the larger belt-tightening trend.
Faced with a thinning budget, the county courts began a hiring freeze about a
year ago, and recently backed away from about $13 million in planned technical
projects, Roddy said.
"This is not a one-year phenomenon," Roddy said Tuesday. "I
don't think we are going to quickly bounce back."
He said he is keeping an eye on the special session of the Legislature, and is
concerned the court will take more fiscal cuts.
With 1,500 employees and a budget this year of $227 million,
Roddy said he is hoping the cuts in hours will not translate into longer wait
times. As it stands, the wait can be more than an hour for people who need to
access files for, say, taking care of traffic tickets.
The move comes as the San Diego Superior Court is getting busier.
In
Changes to the court's Web site may help, including a new online option for
paying traffic tickets.
And in October, the court began posting slightly more detailed information on
the Web about individual civil and probate cases. The information, previously
only available by calling the court or crossing the threshold into the business
offices, includes a listing of what has been filed in the case.
"We are looking at each and every decision to see what is the right thing
to do," Roddy said.
Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.