FORT PIERCE -- Rose Blaha and about seven other employees of the St. Lucie County clerk of court toiled well past dinnertime, working a 13-hour day, on the eve of the final launch of a major technology overhaul that changed the decades-old way the office did business.

That night, June 30, was the culmination of months of preparation for the state-mandated change that some clerk employees described as a daunting and overwhelming project. A big question loomed as the July 1 deadline approached: Would the office be ready?

Nearly a month after the big transition, Blaha, who oversaw most of the work, had a simple answer: "So far, so good," she said last week.

The overhaul was mandated by a new law, known as Article 5, that forces all clerk of court offices across the state to function more like private businesses than public record keepers. It requires the court-related clerk functions, once paid for by the individual counties but now by the state, to operate on a fee-based system.

Because St. Lucie County had to increase most of its court-related fees because of the law, a major upgrade of its computer system was needed. For example, filing a civil case used to cost about $140; it now costs $255. A divorce used to cost $208; it now costs about $300.

"We did a lot of hard work ahead of time to make sure we'd be OK, and it paid off," Blaha said, noting that workers haven't had any major problems with the new computer system.

But some deputy clerks say confusion remains among agencies and users of the court system over the new set of fees, causing extra work for clerk employees.

Although the law was meant to force each county to charge the same fees, some clerk employees said they have found that other counties still charge different fees, confusing customers.

Some St. Lucie clerk employees have been forced to hold filings, mailed in with checks for the old fee amount, until they can contact the senders to tell them to pay the remainder.

Others have had to deal with near-daily calls from lawyers and residents who didn't realize the costs went up significantly.

"There's still discrepancies," one deputy clerk said. "Not everyone is in the same ballpark yet."

Article 5 requires clerks to send one-third of all court filing fees and criminal fines to one big pot in Tallahassee. There, the money will be distributed to counties based on need, allowing smaller poorer counties to offer that same programs and services as larger, wealthier ones.

Based on projected revenue and the pace of the past two months, Blaha said, the St. Lucie clerk's office does not expect shortfalls under the new fee-based system. If there is a shortfall, the clerk's office can apply to the state for more money.

The county plans to set aside about $1.3 million as an Article 5 reserve because this is the first year under the new law, said Marie Gouin, the county's management and budget director.

"It's just in case we missed anything or there any shortfalls we're responsible for relating to Article 5," Gouin said.

During a recent budget workshop, County Administrator Doug Anderson said there might be some uncertainty this year.

"We're not really going to know where we stand until we get a year under our belts," Anderson said.

In the meantime, Tonya Green, the clerk's information technology specialist, said she is pleased with the new computer system.

The office had serious problems after its last big technology change. A computer glitch that began in 1999 with a program update intended to keep the Y2K bug from occurring resulted in keeping case information on more than 228,000 traffic tickets from reaching Tallahassee.

"Of course, we're still editing and changing as we go, but we've hardly had any hiccups," Green said. "For the most part, everything is going better than I hoped."

Palm Beach Post

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2004