As your Orange County Clerk of Court for the past 8½ years, I have been committed to sharing
information and setting expectations for our customers.
I’ve been proud to share great news, from 98% customer satisfaction scores and Electronic
Case Filing to new offices and winning the Governor’s Sterling Award.
So it is painful for me to tell you that, due
to bad legislation that has forced us to
cut our budget 27 %, we have had to make
some drastic decisions.
- We have eliminated 107 positions.
- We are closing our 24/7 branch at the Orange County Jail Booking and Release Center.
- We are reducing our Goldenrod office hours to three days a week.
- We will begin passing along to customers the $3.99 credit card convenience fee, which we have long absorbed.
- Because Visa does not allow the passing of fees along to customers who pay in person, we will no longer accept Visa at our counters.
- Services to attorneys, process servers and judicial partners will be affected, with input from the Orange County Bar Association.
Additionally, this same legislation raises dozens of fees that our office collects, with all the additional revenue going to the state. We retain none of it.
We will continue to provide the best possible customer service, though with fewer clerks to assist customers, we will almost certainly have longer lines and wait times.
Senate Bills 1718 and 2108 will continue to have a devastating effect on Clerk’s offices statewide. The Legislature insists that we abandon our Best Practices to focus on a handful of functions, many of which don’t touch customers directly. If you are concerned about what these changes mean for you, please contact your state lawmakers to voice your opinion. |
