ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Pinellas County Clerk of Court and Comptroller, Ken Burke, recently sent a letter to attorneys warning there will be a processing delay in civil actions because of a massive budget shortfall caused by the pandemic.

"It's basically a 46 percent cut to our fourth quarter budget," said Burke. "We have 80 less employees working in the clerk's office on court matters then we did as of March 1." 

The shortfall in his budget is $3 million. Burke said the problem is that a large portion of his agency's funding comes from traffic tickets, which have gone way down since the pandemic hit. 

"There's less cars on the road. You can see that," said Burke. "Then when the cars start going back on the road, I think the law enforcement was a little reluctant to pull people over and have that interaction."

During normal times, 2,000 traffic tickets are issued in Pinellas County each week. That number dropped by more than 75 percent at the height of the pandemic to 451 and has only gone up to 1,000 in the past month. 

It's a funding model that Burke calls broken and wants to see changed.

"Giving people traffic tickets and having that fund the court system is a terrible way to fund the court system. That's no way to fund a court system," he said. "It's a right of citizens to have access to the court system and it should be funded by the state through general revenue."

Burke said because of due process, criminal cases will take priority. Civil cases such as divorces, evictions, lawsuits, guardianships and estate cases will be the lowest priority. Burke warns to prepare for delays in processing.

"They have to be pushed a little bit behind," he said. "If you file a civil action, it's going to frustrate commerce because people won't be able to get their matter processed quickly."

Burke predicts an avalanche of foreclosure and eviction cases to be filed once the Governor lifts the moratorium.

"I think you're going to see a whole mess of those being filed and unfortunately slowly processed," he said. "This may be good news or bad news depending on which side you're on."

Burke was able to prevent laying off staff by partnering with the Supervisor of Elections, who was finding it difficult to get the necessary temporary staff needed for the August primary and November general election, according to the letter. 

The Clerk's office entered into an employee leasing agreement by which the Supervisor has employed 60 Clerk employees through the November election. Another dozen employees were transferred to work on CARES act funding for the county and other related projects. 

Burke hopes citizens and attorneys contact their state representatives and urge them to come up with a new funding model for the clerk of court.

"Legislators have been very reluctant to give up general revenue money. So, we're working with them," he said. "We have to find a solution that 160 of them will buy into, pass and then the Governor will have to sign."