By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Folks, if I didn’t read this with my own eyes, from a reputable publication, I would swear I was reading an article from the Onion.
In the state of Florida, the number of foreclosures has seen a steady decline in the past decade. That decline is forecast to continue for the next several years.
Sounds like good news, to normal taxpaying consumers like us.
But for the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation, the drop in foreclosure filings is a veritable crisis. After all, that means a drop in revenue for the Courts. In fact, John Dew, Executive Director of said government organization is proposing an increase in “fines, fees, services charges, and other costs to make sure they have enough money to cover court costs.”
But wait a minute…
if foreclosure filings are down, doesn’t that translate to a correspondingly reduced need for services of the court?
Oh, and, by the way, traffic citations are down, too. Double whammy to the revenue side of the budget, isn’t it?
I am not making this up. Read all about it here in the Tampa Tribune Online:
Drop in foreclosures lowers budget forecast for state court system
BY JEFF SCHWEERS
Tribune staffThis particular excerpt is especially outrageous:
The foreclosure pipeline has dried up because people now getting out of foreclosure must wait seven years for their credit to clear to buy again, and those who have just cleared their credit and bought a new home. Foreclosure cases will not pick up again, [Amy] Baker said, “until we’ve had time for people to buy houses and run into new difficulties.”(Baker is the Coordinator for the Office of Economic and Development Research)
Horrors! How in the world will the state of Florida’s Court system ever survive without generating revenue off the backs of people under financial distress?