The Maricopa County court system, one of the largest in the nation, plans to lay off as many as 80 workers in the coming months to deal with a deep budget crunch as the economy continues to slide.
According to a memo (download Word doc) obtained on Monday, the county’s superior court is being forced to cut $22.5 million from its budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in July. That marks a more than 15 percent cut overall and will mean the court needs to lose dozens of employees.
The court’s head administrator, Marcus Reinkensmeyer, sent the memo to all superior court workers on March 5, telling them about the dire budget situation. “I realize that the months ahead will, no doubt, be very stressful and difficult,” Reinkensmeyer wrote. He asked anyone thinking about retiring or quitting to make the decision soon because “this could possibly save a job for someone else in the court.”
Decisions about which positions are on the line will be made in the coming weeks and carried out in May, the memo says.
The crunch comes as other parts of the state’s justice system face similar budget cuts. Last month, the state attorney general’s office announced it would force attorneys and other staffers to take unpaid days off, a move which followed layoffs in the agency.
The cuts by the superior court also come as the county moves forward on building a new $340 million criminal courthouse in downtown Phoenix. However, the two come from separate parts of the county’s budget and county officials continue to maintain the money for the courthouse remains available because it was saved up over a number of years.