The coronavirus pandemic has impacted people of all walks of life and businesses and nonprofits of all sizes. The Colorado court system also can be added to the list of entities forced to make budget and staffing cuts because of its impact.
About 85% of the Judicial Department’s $400 million general fund budget is devoted to personal services, Jon Sarché, deputy public information officer for the Colorado Judicial Department, stated in an email.
The department in the spring and summer made cuts to the operating budgets of the trial courts and appellate courts and made other programmatic cuts elsewhere in the department, Sarché said. The trial courts’ budget was cut by about 10% and the appellate courts by about 25%, Sarche said.
The final version of the statewide budget bill signed into law in June resulted in the equivalent of a 5% general fund reduction for the Judicial Department, which translated to about a $10.6 million permanent reduction in personal services — salary, insurance and retirement benefits, he said.
Those cuts were among many made by the state to address a $3 billion deficit brought on by the pandemic.
Statewide, Judicial Department staff reductions total 111, with another 94 vacant positions going unfilled, according to information provided by the Office of the State Court Administrator.
Those cuts and unfilled jobs include general administration, Probation, the Supreme Court and Colorado Court of Appeals, as well as each of the state’s 22 judicial districts.
“Each judicial district and other major unit of the department was given its budget target and the autonomy to make the cuts that best fit their unique local needs,” Sarché said.
In the 20th Judicial District in Boulder County, the cuts add up the equivalent of 12.9 full-time employees. Jobs being cut include two law clerks, three judicial assistants, a self-represented litigant coordinator and the equivalent of 3½ full-time court reporters. Vacant positions that will remain so include a judicial assistant and the equivalent of 1½ court reporters, according to the state court administrator data.
Boulder County court officials declined a request for an interview.
All jury trials in Boulder County have been suspended until Jan. 19, according to a post on the 20th Judicial District website.
