Circuit split would cost $1M to county, state combined

The four Superior Court judges in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which serves Fayette County, are asking the state to consider creating a fifth judgeship for the circuit.

The request comes as the state is undergoing a severe shortfall in tax collections, mainly due to a slowing economy.

The request, filed Aug. 28, is based on the 2007 case count for the circuit, which shows the four judges are handling the caseload of 5.49 judges, according to state criteria. That figure has increased from 4.86 in 2004, according to state documents.

To qualify for consideration, the four judges must be handling the workload of 5.32 judges at a minimum, according to state requirements.

There is no backlog of cases in the Griffin Judicial Circuit, The Citizen has learned.

The request is being made of the Judicial Council of Georgia, which can approve but not fund the judgeship. Funding is left entirely in the hands of the state legislature.

The request was authored by Superior Court Judge Christopher C. Edwards, who noted the other circuit judges concur with the request.

The potential addition of a fifth judge is likely to spur some talk in the legal community of splitting Fayette County off as a separate circuit from the current alignment with Spalding, Upson and Pike counties.

But a report commissioned by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners earlier this year determined that doing so would cost more than $1 million in additional funds, including $228,000 from the county and $784,000 from the state.

The circuit split would likely include two superior court judges and insure that they along with the district attorney and any juvenile court judgeships be elected from among Fayette residents only. Currently all four superior court judgeships and the district attorney position are open to qualifying residents who live anywhere in the four-county circuit.

A circuit split would also require Fayette to have its own public defender appointed; the current public defender’s office serves the entire circuit.

The last time the Griffin Judicial Circuit received an additional judge was in 1992 when a fourth judgeship was added by the state.

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