County says judge drove up budget

WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella’s 2009 budget request was far more than is needed to operate the courts and included funding for positions that were created to provide jobs for the judge’s friends, family and political associates, county commissioners said in a court document filed Tuesday.

The allegation is among several highly critical claims commissioners make against Ciavarella in the document – a reply to the lawsuit he filed last month that seeks to block cuts in court staffing included in the county’s 2009 budget.

Commissioners contend the court’s proposed 2009 budget was laden with unnecessary positions and included “inflated” salaries for court management employees. They specifically target management positions that commissioners say were created by Ciavarella without approval of the county’s salary board, as is required by law.

The suit does not identify the positions, but Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said one of them belongs to Paul McGarry, director of administrative services for the court system. McGarry previously served as the director of probation services.

Commissioners further allege Ciavarella “arbitrarily inflated” personnel costs included in the court’s 2008 budget to preserve positions that had been created to provide jobs to relatives, friends and political allies. The document does not identify specific positions or persons who hold them. Petrilla said that information will come out once the county files paperwork seeking documents from the court system.

The reply is in response to the lawsuit Ciavarella filed Dec. 17 that alleges the court system would suffer “irreparable harm” if commissioners are allowed to implement cuts in court personnel. The budget proposed eliminating 55 court positions – 34 through layoffs and 21 by not filling vacant positions.

The cuts were put on hold based on a preliminary injunction that was issued by specially appointed senior Judge C. Joseph Rehkamp of Perry County. Commissioners opted not to challenge the injunction and to instead focus on preparing to fight the suit.

Louis Sciandra, attorney for the courts, said Tuesday he had not yet seen the county’s reply and could not comment. Speaking generally, he said he believes the courts have been reasonable in the budget dealings with commissioners.

In the reply, the county’s attorney, Ryan Cassidy, said commissioners asked all county departments to cut back to help close a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. Each department cooperated, with some making multiple changes to their budges. But Ciavarella “repeatedly and adamantly refused” to discuss any cuts.

That forced commissioners to create a potential list of employees to furlough. When it was presented to Ciavarella, he provided no input on whether the furloughs were appropriate, or suggest others who might be furloughed in their place. His failure to “constructively participate” in negotiations precludes him from filing a court action to challenge the budget, Cassidy says.

The reply further states Ciavarella has failed to provide any evidence to support his position that the cuts would inhibit the administration of justice. They note that the 2008 budget included funding for a number of positions that had remained vacant through all or part of the year.

“Many of these positions ... remain vacant as of the filing date of the complaint. Notably the court’s failure to fill these vacant positions for several months has not hindered the administration of justice,” the document says.

Ciavarella has been uncooperative in other ways as well, the reply says, including refusing to provide information on the amount and source of discretionary funding the court maintains. It also alleges that the courts retaliated against commissioners for seeking staff reductions by reducing the amount of money the court system will turn over to the county in 2009.

County solicitor Vito DeLuca said the court system will have 20 days to respond to issues raised in the county’s reply. In the interim, the county is preparing requests for documents that will help determine which court positions are justified and which are not.