The state budget crunch has reached the Muskogee County Court Clerk’s Office with layoffs and a 7 percent cut in expenditures.

Court Clerk Paula Sexton doesn’t like the idea of having fewer employees to do the same or more work, but she realizes she probably is going to have to live with it.

“It just increases everyone’s workload,” Sexton said. “Is it to the point of breaking? No. Will I allow it to get to the point of breaking? No. It’s a difficult situation, but it’s a difficult situation 85 percent of (court clerks) are dealing with.”

The 7 percent budget reduction presents more problems than do the personnel issues, she said. They include eliminating the budget for a postage machine and cutting the budget for copy machine maintenance.

In the state’s 77 counties, the Oklahoma Supreme Court pays the wages for 821 deputies, according to a letter Sexton received. Another 306 are paid from county funds. The Supreme Court plans to cut the number of state-funded employees to 238.

While Sexton knows she’s going to have to live with the cutbacks, she worries about getting all the work done.

“I could afford to lose one person easily and be able to maintain a competent work environment,” Sexton said. “Losing two people would be a little stressful. Four people — you’re looking at not having the ability to have anyone ill, no one to be gone for very long, no one to say ‘I’m taking two week’s vacation.’

“The ability to cover that position competently for two weeks is difficult. Whoever is covering that desk better not have to get up and cover other desks at the same time, or you stand the chance of things being done incorrectly.”

Sexton has laid off two employees, she said. One already has found another job, the other likely will draw unemployment and then apply for Social Security.

A third employee had already resigned, and her slot had not been filled, she said.

She did not lay off a fourth employee but plans to ask the county to pick up the funding for that position, Sexton said.

She also has asked the Cherokee Nation for a trainee in an employment program. That worker would be paid through the tribe.

Sexton said Tulsa County and Oklahoma County court clerks did not have to cut state employees. However, the bulk of their employees already are county workers. In Tulsa County, there are 145 people in the Court Clerk’s Office — 15 state and 130 county employees. In Oklahoma County, there are eight state workers and 148 county employees.

Sexton said the cuts leave her office with no one to cover all the duties if there is someone on leave and a second person needs to take off at the same time.

Sexton often works one of the desks when someone is out, she said.

The area hardest hit is that worked by the file clerks. They have to manually place each piece of paper coming into the office into a paper file kept in addition to the electronic records.

That can be hundreds of papers per day, Sexton said.

She said she plans to pull people from the front office for a portion of the day to help with the filing.

In addition to the personnel cuts Sexton faces, the state has ordered her office to cut:

• All of the $4,300 budgeted for computer training.

• $1,000 from the $1,500 the amount budgeted for books and records.

• All of the $7,248 budgeted for postage machine rental.

• $4,000 from the $47,284 for copy machine maintenance.

Some of the equipment involved is under contracts that have not expired, she said. The postage and copy machines not only serve her office but are used by all the judges in the courthouse, she said.

Whether Sexton’s office gets an additional employee from the county is up in the air until the county budget is made and that could be two months or more.

Glen Scott, county treasurer, said he expects the county’s interest earnings from its investments to be down about $150,000 from the fiscal year just ended.

The county has reduced personnel over the last several years, and most offices have not had a budget increase for some time.

However, the county’s fiscal health is fairly good, especially when compared to some of the state’s other counties, Scott said.



Reach Liz McMahan at 684-2926 or lmcmahan @muskogeephoenix.com.