Hennepin County courts announce service cutbacks

Updated: November 28, 2007 - 7:17 PM

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The chief judge of the Fourth Judicial District today announced a hiring freeze and cuts in various services in an effort to make up what the Hennepin County court projects will be a $1.4 million budget deficit for the fiscal year ending in June.

The hiring freeze "will result in staff shortages throughout the court, requiring a reduction in services," a news release from the court said.

Those reductions include:

• Walk-in counter and telephone services will be limited on Wednesday afternoons, staring Jan. 2. Among other things citizens will no longer be able to pay traffic tickets, get copies of court files or get updates on cases via telephone at all locations.

• Conciliation Court calendars will be trimmed by one-third, slowing the scheduling of hearings.

• A Family Court program that provides supervised visitation services to noncustodial parents and their children will be trimmed. Last year, 110 families used the program.

Chief Judge Lucy Wieland said additional limits will be put on travel, training and reduction or elimination of contracts with outside vendors.

The Fourth Judicial District serves only Hennepin County and is the state's largest trial court, with more than 750,000 cases annually.

PAUL WALSH