COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) – An Ohio judge has failed in her power play to force her city to give the court system all the money she requested, though her fight did result in an extra $90,000.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Dec. 8 to not grant the writ requested by South Euclid municipal court judge Gayle Williams-Byers, who has been trying to force the city to give the court $920,000 for the 2019 budget.
That figure represents a 30% increase over the previous year’s budget despite the city’s total loss of $250,000 in 2018 that led to layoffs and reduced services.
The city gave the municipal courts $637,000 initially and added $90,000 to that during the dispute. But she still pursued the remaining $192,000 she felt the court needed.
“The evidence in support of the municipal court’s contention that council’s allocation was unreasonable consists primarily of prior-year budgets and expenditures, recordings from the council’s budget hearings, and correspondence with the city,” Justice Patrick DeWine wrote.
“Yet Judge Williams-Byers and Clerk Sumpter have provided nothing to support the necessity of these added budget expenditures beyond their own explanations made during the budget process and contained in their personal affidavits.”