City Judge will sue over court funding

   If you thought the issue of who pays what for Marksville City/Ward 2 Court had been forgotten, think again.

   The Marksville City Council fired the first shot in this year’s funding fight, voting to pay a little over half of what the city accepts as reasonable operating costs for the court.

    City Judge Angelo Piazza III said the city’s action “gives me no alternative but to file litigation. This will be resolved in the courts.”

    Piazza said he will file suit, request an injunction against the city and “contemplate shutting the court down until the issue is resolved.”

The court’s budget has also been submitted to the Police Jury, but no action has been taken by the body.

    Piazza submitted an annual budget showing $204,498.88.

   The City Council, at its June 10 meeting, not only limited its share of the budget to 50 percent, but significantly reduced the submitted budget estimates in which it agreed to share and completely omitted some big-ticket line items that it does not feel are the city’s responsibility. Mayor John Lemoine asked the council to consider a revised budget showing only $58,200 of appropriate costs in which the city would share.

    Lemoine repeatedly noted that the state law that created Marksville City/Ward 2 Court establishes certain minimum costs that are required and mandates that the city pay half of the court’s cost and the Police Jury pay half.

    The vote on the court budget item was 5-1 with Mike Gremillion -- the only incumbent alderman re-elected to the council in the last election -- voting against.

    Under the Marksville city charter, the mayor is a voting member of the council.

 

    Major differences in the budget submitted and the budget payments approved by the city council include:

-- reducing salaries from $122,880.52 to $36,570.60, and then authorizing paying only 50 percent of the reduced amount.

-- reducing payroll taxes from $9,400.36 to $3,029.40 and paying only 50 percent of that.

-- paying all the $300 for bond insurance for court employees.

-- reducing amount for office supplies from $8,000 to $4,000, and paying half of reduced amount.

-- reducing repairs and maintenance from $5,600 to $2,800, paying half.

-- Reducing telephone costs from $4,700 to $3,000, paying half.

-- Law and code books, from $6,000 to $2,000, paying half.

-- Dues and subscriptions, from $6,000 to $2,500, paying half.

-- Professional services, from $9,250 to $4,000, paying half.

    The council action would pay none of the $7,368 for insurance, a car note and fuel cost for the ward marshal’s office or the $1000 budgeted for uniforms.

     Lemoine said the city provides the courtroom and pays all utilities and maintenance costs for the courtroom, which is part of the City Hall complex.  In its budget discussions, the council placed a value of $24,000 on that contribution, in addition to the $29,250 it would agree to pay.

 

    Piazza said the American system of government is based on three equal branches of government -- executive, legislative and judicial.     “The judicial branch in entitled to be funded, and that is not happening with this measure” by the City Council.

    Piazza said the submitted budget reflects the requirements of state statutes and the Supreme Court of Louisiana concerning the operations of a city court.

    “Our budget is at the bare minimum,” Piazza said. “We are running a trim budget. There is no room to decrease the budget. In fact, the budget we submitted was slightly less than last year because we paid off some equipment costs.”

    Piazza said Lemoine’s actions “are purely political. It is regretful that the city will have to go through litigation at great expense.” He said City Court provides necessary services to the public, including property owners seeking evictions, domestic abuse restraining orders, law enforcement search warrants and setting bonds, in addition to hearing civil and criminal court cases.

    The court is not supposed to be a revenue-generating department, any more than the police and fire departments, Piazza said, adding that those departments exist to protect the public and provide other services to the public.

    “Income is incidental,” Piazza said.

    He noted that City Court was always able to cover its expenses and provide a surplus to the city prior to Lemoine becoming mayor.  He said Lemoine’s issues with the police department and demands for better accounting procedures in City Court have resulted in revenues declining and expenses increasing. For that reason, he said, the court has been operating at a deficit for the past several years.

   He said the issue is being reviewed at this time and the lawsuit will be filed in the near future.