Letter: Cutting Municipal Court hours is wrong way to save money

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 | 9:44 a.m.

This is an open letter to Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and the Municipal Court on its "contribution" to Las Vegas' budget cut.

I read about this in the City Talk paper which was sent out to residents in July. I'm glad I took some time to read this, as I must "commend" the court and the mayor for one of the most stupid decisions to come down the pike from City Hall and the court.

Not long ago, they tooted their horns about the extended hours for the court and how it would reduce the clog, make it easier on people who needed to go there and that fines are being collected faster due to the hours available. Still, if anyone's been down to Municipal Court, one can always see people hanging out the door from the line overflow, because all the windows are never open, and there are just too many people to service on a daily basis.

With the growth here, more tickets are written and more people are having to go to court to pay fines. Cutting back on hours is the last thing the court needs to do! Most people are hourly employees, and standing in line now costs them more money than most can afford with the low wages paid in this town.

If anything needs to be done, the court needs to open more windows, or at least have the ones they've got open at all times. Maybe weeding out employees who are slow to perform their jobs would help too, along with speeding up the computers in use.

There's more deadwood in this city that could be weeded out to cut costs other than the court system. If anything, it's the one thing that needs to be upgraded to serve the people it gets its money from. You want their money, so give them the chance to pay it without having to worry about losing their jobs over it. Wake up!

L. Corbin