Municipal Court Aims to Cut Costs

Officials at the Stow Municipal Court say the courthouse will again operate in the black for its budget in 2013, and that's due to minimum staffing and other cost-cutting measures.

The Stow Municipal Clerk of Courts office has seen a steady decrease in the number of employees since opening in the new building four years ago.

Diana Colavecchio, clerk of courts for Stow, said last year the office had four full-time employees. For 2013, the office has just one full-time employee.

"Going forward, the clerk’s office is doing what’s happening citywide … and that is we’re doing more with less," Colavecchio said. "In essence what we’ve got going over there are about 18 full-time and one part-time employee. We are essentially about at the limit of where we could go."

Even with minimal staffing, the clerk's office continues to look for ways to cut costs, including doing its own office cleaning, Colavecchio said.

Efforts like those are what allowed the clerk's office to come in $58,000 under budget for 2012.

The court district serves 16 communities with a combined population of about 190,000.

The court will operate on a combined budget between the clerk's office and judges of $2.6 million in 2013, according to the city's 2013 budget.

Stow Municipal Court Judge Kim Hoover said that, like the clerk's office, the judges came under budget for 2012 and expect to do the same in 2013.

"We continue to carry our own. We won’t cost you any money again this year," Hoover told Stow City Council last month.