COURT EMPLOYEES OBJECT TO SPENDING AMID LAYOFFS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

With 29 courtrooms closing and layoffs coming, Los Angeles County court employees protested Monday the purchase of millions of dollars of furniture and computers, including a $40,000 desk at a Compton courthouse.

Despite a $57 million budget shortfall, court officials are still buying $1,200 flat-screen monitors for judges, leather couches for judge's chambers and spending $2.1 million to furnish a jury assembly room at the court in Santa Monica, workers said.

``To add insult to injury, this fiscal year the Los Angeles Superior Court intends to spent $2 million more on these types of purchases even as more employees find themselves without jobs,'' said Damian Tryon, business representative for the Association of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents about 1,500 court workers.

Superior Court spokesman Kyle Christopherson said the court is unaware of the purchase of a $40,000 desk at the Compton courthouse and added the individual purchase price of a couple of hundred of 15-inch flat panel monitors installed on judges' benches was not $1,200, but $350.

``Under no circumstances can any of this computer hardware/software funding be used to offset any of our budget shortfall,'' Christopherson said. ``It would be impossible, and illegal, to use this money to replace salary funds to compensate employees who must be laid off.''

Earlier this month, the Superior Court Executive Committee voted to begin cutting its budget by nearly 10 percent. In late August, 168 student workers and temporary employees were laid off.

By Oct. 15, 150 employees are expected to be laid off. The largest court system in the state is also considering reducing funding for courthouse security, ending the use of retired judges and eliminating special programs such as drug courts.

A total of 29 of the county's 585 courtrooms are expected to be closed.

Court employees staged protests Monday at the Burbank Courthouse and the downtown courthouse, saying that court budget documents show the court has done nothing to reduce the amount spent on unnecessary purchases.

``The public and court employees will be the ones to suffer as luxury items continue to be purchased into the future,'' Tryon said. ``Further layoffs will mean longer lines for the public, a backlog of cases to be heard in courtrooms, amounting to an overall delay of justice.''

The Service Employees International Union, Local 660, which represents about 3,000 court workers, estimates only $6 million is needed to fully staff the Superior Court through the end of this fiscal year.