Public defender council submits budget cuts, with concerns

The state public defender council voted Wednesday to submit proposed budget cuts to Gov. Sonny Perdue, but some frustrated members said the cuts will cripple the cash-strapped agency.

In the meantime, the council will study whether it can file a lawsuit against the state to preserve the defender system. Some board members expressed outrage that the agency, set up to be financially self-sufficient through collections of court fees and surcharges, must cut its budget because of lagging tax revenues.

The specific reductions, expected to be made through furloughs and other savings, will be determined at the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council’s Sept. 26 board meeting. It would comply — albeit a few weeks late — with Perdue’s directive that most state agencies submit budgets with cuts of at least 6 percent to make up a $1.6 billion revenue shortfall.

Two weeks ago, the defender council’s board voted to defy Perdue’s order to submit the cuts by Sept. 2. But with the state Office of Planning and Budget withholding 6 percent of its quarterly allotments to the council, the board held another meeting Wednesday.

Some council members said the board should refuse to submit the cuts.

“We’ve reached a point where we cannot continue to meet our constitutional obligations,” Don Oliver, county attorney for Walker County, said. “I’m ready to make our stand. … We should continue to run this agency with the money that’s available, and when that’s gone, shut it down. Then we can let the Legislature decide whether to start it up or not.”

“I think it’s going to lead to [the system’s] demise,” said Gainesville lawyer Wyc Orr. “I think that’s where we’re headed.”

At Orr’s suggestion, the board will explore the option of mounting a legal challenge.

Mike Berg, a Dawson County commissioner, said the council should make the cuts it needs to keep the system operating. “I’m for working with folks, rather than thumbing my nose at folks,” he said.

Board member David Dunn said the furloughs “are liable to have a devastating effect.” Many defender offices are shorthanded and some will lose experienced lawyers, said Dunn, public defender in LaFayette.

A day after the council missed its Sept. 2 deadline, Trey Childress, director of the state budget office, told the agency it needed to act.

“As you well know, Governor Perdue has frequently defended the council from reductions proposed by others in the past,” he wrote. “Noncompliance with the budget act and with Governor Perdue’s budget instructions may make it difficult to defend the council from similar action in the future.”

Wilson DuBose, chairman of the council’s board, responded by saying the system should be receiving more funding, not less.

During a special session called by Perdue in 2004, legislators approved a funding mechanism to pay for the state system through add-on fees to civil court filings and surcharges on criminal cases. But the council has received far less in state funding than has been collected from the fees.

The fund brought in $45.5 million during fiscal year 2008, yet the council received $40.4 million the following year, DuBose said. Excess collections go into the state’s general fund.

The council should not pay the price for the state’s tax revenue shortfalls, because the indigent-defense fund more than pays for the council’s operation, DuBose wrote. “If anything, the council should receive more, not less, of the revenue collected through its special funding source,” he told Childress.