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State Supreme Court Recommends Dropping 45 Judges

LANSING (WWJ) - Looking to "rebalance the workload" within Michigan's Court system, the state Supreme Court has recommended the elimination of 45 trial court judgeship positions throughout the state.

The details, which include the recommended elimination of six judgeships in Oakland County, and four district court judges in Wayne County come in the high court's Judicial Resources Recommendations report, released Wednesday.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano says the issue of judicial autonomy, when it comes to budgets, remains a sensitive one.

"One of the real problems that we've had in Wayne County that has really driven probably $80 million of our deficit has been the court over-spending," said Ficano. "I realize that they're an independent branch of government. But, the problem is, it's like someone else who has your credit card, you ask them to stop spending but they continue to do it."

Ficano says he'll be looking closely through the recommendations.

"Do you have too many judges than what you need for a population drop, I think that's the first thing. But, also, what we want the court to do is start looking at IT. There's no reason that they should have a duplicate IT department and have computers that are independent of the county," he said.

Governor Rick Snyder is said to support the high court's recommendations.

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