by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The past 75 days haven’t exactly been the best of times in the office of the Duval County clerk of court.
But they’ve haven’t exactly been the worst of times, either.
As the result of a Constitutional amendment passed in 1998, Florida’s 67 counties on July 1 raised service charges and processing fees the public pays at the courthouse.
“I guess we’re about where we expected to be,” said Gordon Morgan, chief assistant to Clerk of Court Jim Fuller. “There were some hiccups. But there were some major changes and shifting of priorities and things that we had to do.”
Now that the whole process has leveled off, it’s pretty close to business as usual in the clerk’s office. That’s not how it was as the deadline loomed for the change.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people were filing from June 1 until the fees came in July 1,” said Morgan. “Especially for divorces. That was the main thing.”
Usually, the clerk’s office processes around 50 divorce papers a day. On June 30, 249 people jammed the courthouse to file before the fee went from $160 to $364.
“The line started at the front counter and ran out the door just about to the entrance,” said Charlene Ricks, who was named assistant to the clerk for circuit, civil, family law and court files in August. “I believe anybody who thought they might want a divorce this year went ahead and filed.”
If there is an upside to the higher filing cost, Morgan said, “I think there’s a lot of people who aren’t going to be getting frivolous divorces now.”
Also reacting to the change in fees were the 95 people who filed paperwork for civil cases on June 30, taking advantage of the $92.50 fee. The charge went to $256 the next day.
Fed up with what they said were too many unfunded mandates, municipalities lobbied for the 1998 amendment. When it passed, responsibility for funding the state court system’s “essential” services went from the counties to the state. Essential services include civil proceedings and criminal trials.
Localities, to their surprise, were left to fund the “nonessentials” — a variety of local initiatives that includes programs such as Teen and Drug courts.
“We’re dealing with it,” said Morgan. “We’re staying within the guidelines that were set down by the state.
“We’re fee-based now, and we’re doing a lot of the things that other agencies did in the past. We’re not in the black, but we’re not sinking.”
Because there was such a jump in fees, the public may get the erroneous idea the clerk’s office is “making a ton of money,” Morgan said. “On the other hand, I don’t want people to think we’re not going to make it. We will.”
The process that has been forced on the counties seems to be demonstrating that misery may not love company, but it can profit by collaboration.
“We’re staying in close contact with all the counties,” said Morgan. “There’s a budget commission Mr. Fuller’s on. I have communicated with a lot of other counties more than I have in the past. And vice versa.
“They’re calling us; we’re calling them. We say, ‘This is what we’re looking at. What do you think? How are you doing it?’ We’re all learning.”
The uncertainty about how much money will now be coming into the county has added to department heads’ anxiety. But the extra work his staff has been putting in is making the situation tolerable, Morgan said.
“We got a couple of new revenue streams, but we lost some, too,” he said. “Things have sort of balanced out, but we’ve had to tighten our belts. We can’t work overtime, but we did get some new people.
“So it’s been good in that we have been able to get the most out of our employees.”
Unlike the limited impact of Florida’s regional water wars, the struggle to make ends meet under the new formulas affects all 67 counties. The legislators who approved those formulas, Morgan agreed, are undoubtedly hearing from local judges, administrators and constituents that the plan could use some adjustments.
“The clerks, through the (Florida Association of Court Clerks), and the Department of Revenue and the legislators — they’re talking back and forth,” he said. “Nothing’s necessarily set in stone at this point. I really think everybody involved here has the welfare of the people of Florida in mind in getting it done right, no matter what it takes.”
The way the process gets worked out will have long-term implications, said Morgan.
“This is the biggest change since (1972) when we went to the two-tier court system,” he said. “Mr. Fuller has point out that, right now, we’re going to determine how this clerk’s office is run for many, many years. So this is serious stuff going on.
“We do everything the law, the statute, says. When it says, ‘The clerk shall . . .’ that’s what we’re doing. And I haven’t seen anything that says, ‘If the clerk wants to . . .’ ”