by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
A temporary hold is being placed on the idea that the Public Defender Matt Shirk and State Attorney Angela Corey will have to close their offices in June because of State budget withholdings.
“We are going to hold off until the last day in April before putting the office closure plan in place,” said Shirk, public defender of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. “We’ve received notification that the funding could be released by the end of April.”
On March 23, Shirk notified all the offices in the Fourth Judicial Circuit there was a possibility that his office would have to shut down for over two weeks in June because of the “Governor’s holdback of 15 percent of the Fourth Quarter release of funds.”
June is the end of the State’s fiscal year.
“If we don’t get the money by the end of April, we will proceed with the plan to furlough staff,” said Shirk, who represents a circuit that includes Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
The staff of the public defender’s office not only has the threat of a two-week, unpaid furlough hanging over their head, but they have also lost another benefit due to the budget crisis.
“The governor’s office asked us to use all cost cutting measures possible. We looked at all aspects of the office and one area I had at my discretion was to eliminate the pay out of leave,” said Shirk. “One of the perks of working for a State agency is when you leave after three years of service you can take a payout of your vacation leave. I temporarily halted any payout of leave, so if anyone leaves between now and the end of the budget crisis, there will be no payout other than what is required by law.”
State revenues are the payout that everyone is concerned about lately, but the latest news received by Corey added some sunshine to the bleak outlook.
“The word we have gotten is the State revenues are looking better than what had been expected,” said Corey. “That should help with the release of funds, but we will know more by the end of the week.”
That news should come quicker this week because the conference call with Gov. Charlie Crist will take place Thursday because of Good Friday.
“The governor is carefully monitoring the agencies affected by the 15 percent fourth quarter hold and we are working with agencies through the budget amendment process to release funds as needed,” said Sterling Ivey, press secretary to Crist. “I am not sure if the public defenders will receive their entire allotment at the end of April, but we will continue to work with them as we conclude this fiscal year.”
Fourth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Donald Moran remains indifferent to budget updates from the capital.
“The status of the State budget changes from day-to-day,” said Moran. “We really won’t know what is going to happen until that final bell rings.”
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