Local Government Clerk Announces Reduced Office Hours

BRADENTON – Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, R.B. ”Chips“ Shore, announced today that, effective Monday, July 2, 2012, the Clerk’s office will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, instead of the traditional 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This reduction in service is a direct result of the 7 percent statewide budget cut imposed on Florida’s Clerks by the State Legislature.

”When the State Legislature made this cut, it did so without a firm grasp of how the budget reduction to the Clerks would affect our courts system. In order to meet statutorily required deadlines for court cases, I have been forced to reduce the amount of time we are open to the public. My staff will continue to work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the hours we are not open to the public will be used to process court documents and files,“ says Shore.

Since legislative cuts began in 2009, the Manatee County Clerk’s Office has had to reduce staff by 15 percent and has lost $1.4 million in funding while the number of cases, particularly foreclosures, continues to trend upward. ”It pains me to have to do this,“ says Shore, ”but I hope that our online services, which include the online payment of traffic tickets and child support payments and the ability to electronically file court documents, will mitigate the impact on our customers that this reduction in hours will have."

The change in the Clerk’s hours for the public will not affect the operating hours for the Manatee County Judicial center and it will not affect the time that jurors report for jury duty.