Houston Budget Woes

Kuffner notes the budget difficulties brought on by overly optimistic (read hallucinatory) estimates on the amount of revenue to be obtained by court proceedings.

Frankly, I share the view of court director Barbara Sudhoff:

Bringing in money for the city is important, Sudhoff said, but it is not the courts' most important role.

"No one can forget that first we are a court of law," she said. "First and foremost, we must be fair and impartial."

That's exactly right. We need to view the municipal justice system primarily as a law and order mechanism, not a revenue device.

[Posted at 21:15 CST on 10/09/02] [Link]