Montgomery Co. court to cut jobs

DAYTON, Ohio (DBJ / WDTN) - The Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas will cut between eight and 12 positions this month.

The court will begin taking steps this month to cut its budget in response to county requests to tighten belts by 2.5 percent. The court will attempt to do that by abolishing 10 positions, though the number could end up as few as eight and up to 12, depending on how close it comes to meeting goal.jobs

Administrator Judge Michael Hall, similar to the court’s chief executive officer, said the court has a budget of $14 million, of which most comes from Montgomery County’s general fund. By eliminating the positions, which will fall on the civil case management and processing side of operations, the court estimates it will save up to $250,000. The court has eliminated close to 20 positions in the past two years through attrition.

The court also approved an agreement two weeks ago to allow court employees to voluntarily leave their positions and sign an agreement not to apply for other work with the county. If employees volunteer, they will be compensated, but even if 12 people volunteer, layoffs could still happen when those designated positions are abolished, Hall said.

The court is expected to just barely meet its cost-saving goal after the jobs are cut July 15. It will be asking employees to volunteer for unpaid furloughs to avoid further cuts throughout the year.

“We’re going to be very close,” Hall said.

The common pleas court has 208 employees and 11 judges.

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