Spoke with Lisa Bernau, Chief Deputy for Escambia County Clerk of Courts/Comptroller Ernie Lee Magaha, about the change in funding for the Clerk that will go into effect July 1. Other clerks around the state are announcing huge layoffs because of the change which will place their funding under the state judicial administration. Currently the clerks have based funding on the collections for services provided.
Bernau says that they don’t anticipate any more cuts than the 50 employees who were laid off earlier in the year.
“Mr. Magaha began planning for this in January as he saw the decline in revenue collections due to the downturn in the economy. He stressed pre-planning and preparation so we don’t anticipate any more layoffs.”