Cobb County Superior Court is cutting costs by making changes in the way court reporters do their work.
But the changes still don’t address fees for transcripts, which is the largest issue in controlling costs, Superior Court Clerk Jay Stephenson said Friday.
Last month the Cobb County Commission required 10 percent across-the-board cuts as part of a plan to close an initial $31 million mid-year budget gap. Unlike departments under the commission’s jurisdiction, the commissioners cannot control where cuts are made in the budgets of constitutional offices, like the Superior Court and tax commissioner’s office.
To meet the 10 percent cuts, the Superior Court reviewed all of its operating expenses, including court reporters, one of the larger budget areas, Superior Court Administrator Tom Charron said.
The court has a staff of court reporters, some assigned to specific courts while others float between different assignments. The reporters are considered full-time county employees and receive salary and benefits.
They also are allowed, by state law, to charge fees for providing transcripts. In some cases, the county pays for contract court reporters when county reporters are not available.
To cut costs, Charron is reworking staff court reporters’ schedules to reduce the number of outside reporters hired. The various courts in the county system, including state, probate and juvenile courts, are working together to share staff reporters.
“When one of their on-staff court reporters is available or not busy in the courtroom, they can come sit in Superior Court and that has helped us with back-filling staff,” Charron said.
Another change is the staff reporters’ work schedule, which previously allowed them to work cases two weeks in the courtroom, while having the following week to complete transcripts. The third week out of the courtroom is being eliminated and court reporters are having to manage their schedules to complete transcripts while working in the courtroom.
Not addressed is the issue of the court reporter fee process. Last year, Stephenson complained court reporters should not be allowed to charge the county for transcripts while also receiving a county salary, and said the transcript fees were exceeding the budgets of some of the courts in the system.
A review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and our reporting partner Channel 2 Action News found the county paid more than $472,000 in transcript fees to its 24 court reporters in a 12-month period, in addition to paying those employees salaries equaling $1.14 million during the same period.
The transcript fees are allowed under state statue, and are charged by other counties. To keep costs down in other jurisdictions, court reporters are deemed contract instead of salaried employees. A grand jury looking into Stephenson's concerns recommended a review of the procedures.
“The changes are insignificant concessions when you consider the compensation [court reporters] are receiving by having the county allow them to take the work product that they create as a full-time county employee, treat it as their own property and sell it -- including selling it back to their employer,” Stephenson said. “The big problem is still there.”
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