The State Court Administrative Office has released the 2015 Judicial Resources Recommendations, calling for a reduction of nine trial court judgeships and the addition of three — one of them in Macomb County — for a net cut of six trial court seats.
The biennial report, released Friday, analyzes changes in judicial workloads and recommends the most effective number of trial court and appellate court judges statewide.
“Our goal is to be the most efficient and responsible stewards of public resources, and judges statewide are committed to sharing resources, eliminating waste, balancing workloads and strengthening our commitment to the highest level of service to the public,” said Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr. “We look forward to working with the Legislature as they consider this plan to continue rightsizing Michigan’s judiciary.”
Combined with previous cuts recommended in the 2011 and 2013 reports, Young said taxpayers will save nearly $200 million once the reductions are fully implemented.
As a result of those earlier recommendations, the Michigan Legislature approved the elimination of 45 judgeships, including four Court of Appeals seats.
Already, 25 of those seats have been eliminated, saving taxpayers more than $6.1 million since 2011, court officials said.
Annual savings once all 2011, 2013, and 2015 cuts are implemented are estimated to be $7.4 million.
Besides the addition of one new seat on the Macomb County Circuit Court bench, the report recommends creation of another seat on the Oakland County Circuit Court as well as another judgeship at 44th District Court in Royal Oak.
A footnote in the report noted that a circuit judgeship was temporarily eliminated earlier by the Legislature in Macomb County and will be reinstated on Jan. 1, 2017.
The Legislature also authorized the addition of one circuit judgeship effective Jan. 1, 2017 and one circuit judgeship effective Jan. 1, 2019. Those actions require approval by the Macomb County board of commissioners, according to court officials.
The report recommends elimination of one judgeship each at 36th District Court in Detroit and 52nd District Court in Oakland County as well a one-seat reduction in district courts in Delta and Berrien County along with the district court that covers Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties. Elimination of one judgeship each is recommended for probate courts in Ingham, Monroe, St. Clair and Saginaw Counties.
The Judicial Resources Recommendations report is the result of a detailed statistical analysis that takes into consideration the amount of judicial time needed to handle each case type.
Based on that analysis, courts deemed to have either too many judges or too few judges were studied further to incorporate factors beyond caseloads into the final recommendation.
All reductions, the report said, are proposed to be accomplished by attrition — when a judge retires, is constitutionally prohibited from running for election due to age or when the position otherwise becomes vacant.
The addition of a new judgeship requires both the Legislature’s authorization and approval of the local funding unit.
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