Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed may veto a City Council measure preventing him from naming two new judges to the Atlanta Municipal Court.
The council voted for cutting the two judge positions after a city performance audit determined that the court is overstaffed for its workload, and that proper staffing could save the city $2.3 million a year.
"Mayor Reed opposes the legislation and disagrees with the City Auditor’s report," Reed spokeswoman Sonji Jacobs said in an email after the council vote Monday. "He believes the city needs 10 judges to handle the volume of cases that come through municipal court."
Reed is weighing whether to veto the legislation, Jacobs said.
City Auditor Leslie Ward said earlier this year that the number of municipal cases would have to double to keep busy the nine judges currently on the court. Her audit recommended eliminating four judges and 19 staff employees, including assistant solicitors, case managers and public defenders.
The audit, which covered fiscal 2008-2010, found the judges, as a group, averaged 11 hours a week on the bench for the first six months of last year.
On Monday, the Atlanta City Council voted 9-5 to reduce the court by two positions despite Reed lobbying to keep 10 positions. The positions cut were one vacated when Chief Judge Deborah Greene retired and one held by Judge Clinton Deveaux, who is retiring Wednesday.
After the vote, City Councilman Ivory Young introduced a proposal to restore the two positions, which will be vetted next week by the council's Public Safety Committee that Young chairs.
Councilwoman Felicia Moore, who sponsored the legislation to trim the court, said the mayor wanted to use the court to shore up city finances.
“He said he wanted to increase revenue by getting with the police chief to aggressively enforce traffic and he was going to need the judges," Moore said. “I would hope that he wouldn't veto unless he has the money to support the judges and their courtrooms.”
Jacobs said the mayor was interested in increasing traffic enforcement to promote public safety.
Chief Judge Crystal Gaines said no increased revenue will be coming from the court if the number of judges isn't boosted back to 10.
“We believe if we remain at eight we don’t have the capacity to have any increase in caseload," Gaines said.
The City Council, which increased the budget for the court, solicitor and public defender by $1.8 million and added 21 new positions this fiscal year, requested the audit. Gaines lobbied for an increase in staff for all nine courtrooms.
Moore said her legislation cut vacated positions instead of making the deeper cuts proposed by the audit because cutting judges generates so much controversy. Instead, she wants to stop Reed from filling the vacant positions and hopes to cut more positions as other judges retire
She said it wasn't a budget issue because the council will actually increase the court's budget for next fiscal year to $8.6 million from $8.3 million. Each judgeship cost more than $870,000 a year, she said.
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