State budget cuts impact Lee offices
State budget cuts have impacted the operations of the Lee County Clerk of the Courts Office and the Supervisor of Elections Office.
Clerk of Court Linda Doggett said recent state budget cuts for court-related clerk duties are unsustainable. Her office has lost $1.3 million this fiscal year and has lost 23 positions over the last two years through attrition, resulting in a drastic shift in the way her office can conduct business, especially in regards to customer service.
The revenue loss will result in the closure of the Clerks’ Cape Coral Office two days a week beginning next month.
Meanwhile, Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington reported a loss for the Elections Office for the first time in 27 years and had to ask the Board of County Commissioners for cash to cover a budget shortfall.
Doggett has recently implemented several changes to compensate, including combining two customer service counters in the Lee County Justice Center into one on the first floor, which has resulted in an over-crowded lobby and growing wait times.
To mitigate the impact to customer wait times, Doggett will close the Cape Coral office at 1039 S.E. 9th Place on Mondays and Fridays starting Nov. 1. That office will only be open Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The clerks in Cape Coral will work in the Lee County Justice Center office on Mondays and Fridays to try to reduce the wait times there.
City officials expressed some concern.
“Obviously, as the largest city in Lee County we always get concerned when services are cut back to our residents. We understand budget cuts and you have to do what you need to do. We’re disappointed but I understand what they’re being forced to do,” Cape Coral City Councilmember Rana Erbrick said Wednesday. “One would hope that if money should become plentiful again, they reinstate the services in our city.”
Doggett, whose budget is $10 million this year said offices statewide will try to get the legislature’s ear this coming session to get some financial relief before seeking the following year to revamp the funding model.
For now, the priority is the downtown Fort Myers office, since that’s where the courts are, unlike Cape Coral where there’s court a few days a month, she said.
“It was a difficult decision to make, but I’m trying to balance the service level to what makes sense now until we get relief.” Doggett said. “If we get some relief, we can open that office an additional day. The volume of people going to Cape Coral is minor compared to downtown, where you have courts.”
Doggett is encouraging people to use the online services whenever possible on www.LeeClerk.org. People can e-file, pay traffic fines, child support and even record your public records online using Electronic Recording (eRecording) online.
Meanwhile, Harrington had to ask the BOCC for $185,929 to cover a shortfall for the 2016 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Harrington said she based her budget on what they thought they would need. She also said the office wanted to make sure the problems from the 2012 elections, which featured hours long waiting times to vote, had been corrected.
Things came up that Harrington said they couldn’t control.
The Elections Office sent out more than 400,000 voter cards that had to be redone and resent after the Supreme Court ruled the district lines weren’t correct, and the cost of printing, supplies and payroll also increased.
“As we got closer to the end of the year, we knew we would be over. That’s the first time in 27 years we had to request more money,” Harrington said. “It was a drop in the budget compared to the $8,8 million we got. The last 10 years we’ve given back $9.6 million.”
Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman, however, didn’t think the amount was a drop in the bucket, and wasn’t pleased to dip into reserves to pay any kind of money.
The county, though, didn’t have a choice, since it could have impacted its credit rating, he said.
“It was disappointing to learn at the last minute she had overspent by that much. They asked us to bail them out with taxpayers’ dollars for our year-end audit,” Hamman said. “Had we not approved it. It would have caused a negative comment for our audit because we would have used next year’s revenue and they don’t look favorably on that.”
Money to cover the deficit came from fees Harrington’s office collects, but $65,000 came from taxpayers, said Hamman, who added the deficit was linked to equipment purchased that wasn’t originally budgeted to help people check in at the polling locations that may not be ready for this coming election.
“I had to think about the voters of Lee County; that’s why we budget for what we think we need and shop around to make sure we get the best bang for our buck,” Harrington said.