To Cut Costs, 3 County Courthouses Will Close

Faced with state budget cuts, officials in the Los Angeles County Superior Court announced Wednesday the shuttering of three of 57 courthouses in an effort to trim nearly $6 million in security costs.

The closure of courthouses in Culver City, Monrovia and South Gate is part of a statewide reduction in security costs.

Last month, state court leaders ordered the Los Angeles court -- which represents a third of the state judiciary in size and budget -- to trim $6 million from its $100-million security budget as part of a statewide, $11-million reduction. State courts must squeeze an additional $22 million from their operating budget in the coming weeks.

“We don’t have a lot of areas anymore to kind of whittle away at,” Presiding Judge Robert A. Dukes said. “These now go to the core of our operations.”

The workload and staff from the six affected courtrooms will be transferred to vacant facilities in other courthouses. There will be no layoffs, Dukes said.

Effective July 1, Monrovia cases will be moved to Alhambra; South Gate cases will be divided, with traffic and misdemeanor matters going to East Los Angeles and civil matters to Huntington Park. Culver City cases will be moved to Santa Monica in November after courthouse renovations are finished.

In all, the closures will save more than $1.5 million annually.

Court officials also plan to deactivate lockups at the Huntington Park, Malibu and Santa Monica courthouses to save $1.4 million a year, and reduce security staffing at entrance metal detectors and elsewhere to cut $2.7 million a year.

The current cuts follow a $57-million reduction in court services two years ago that forced the closure of 29 courtrooms and the layoffs of 150 people.

Dukes said he expected the Superior Court to absorb at least an additional $7 million in cuts before fiscal year’s end in June.

Under a new statewide procedure, the court cannot close any facilities without giving the public 30 days to review its proposals.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Wednesday that he planned to weigh in with his concerns and recommendations on how the court should proceed.

“The court should appreciate that it is but one participant in the justice system. Its proposed actions severely impact the law enforcement community, especially police departments of smaller cities,” he said. They also “substantially increase the burden on crime victims.”