Vermont's courts will be closed – and the people who work in them furloughed – for more than two business weeks this fiscal year. This is not due to a sudden decrease in frivolous lawsuits. It is about money. Vermont doesn't have enough to pay for a full-time judicial system.
The courts are an essential feature of civil society and no one argues that the rule of law can be privatized. That the state must take this measure speaks to the severity of its budget difficulties. But Vermont seems to have money for Amtrak subsidies; money to buy conservation easements to protect farmland from the predatory developers who are overrunning the state; money for a union-shop school system that can keep hiring more teachers and giving them pay raises even as the number of students to be educated declines.
You make your choices, then you spend your money. We seem to be choosing to cheat on the foundation so we can pay for custom windows and doors.
Calls for a study, if you ask me.
Posted by: Tea Party Guy | July 08, 2009 at 03:03 PM
The study in today's other post with the astonishing conclusion that Vermont's economy should grow from its values and assets was funded by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. The Council's website says that it's a nonprofit that receives funding from the State of Vermont. How's that for setting priorities? Not enough money for a full time judiciary, but money to fund the Council.
jch
Posted by: jch | July 08, 2009 at 04:08 PM
Having worked as an assistant clerk in both a Vermont family and district court for a year (many moons ago), it was one of the least-funded branches of the gov't. There was far, far too much work to be completed in a day for all the staff, and there was very little money in terms of salaries. I'm assuming not much has changed, but putting these folks out of work for two weeks while money is absolutely flushed down the toilet funding projects of zero value to the state is probably making a lot of these judiciary employees less than happy. Remember who you voted for the next time you have to access the services of the judiciary - your elected "leadership" has helped create the budgetary disaster by failing to help create a vibrant economy. It seems that much of what the legislature is interested in doing is killing off business entirely in the state.
How long would the furlough be if Federal "stimulus" money wasn't available? How will we fund this when the "stimulus" is gone? I wonder how much sleep our legislators are losing in the off-season while the state slowly implodes.
Posted by: Chris Campion | July 08, 2009 at 08:29 PM
It's not a funding issue. It is a farming break for all of Vermont's part-time judges/part-time farmers.
Refresher if you don't get the reference: http://windsorvt.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/martha-davis-gets-court-diversion-program/
Posted by: GreggB | July 09, 2009 at 07:26 AM