The Orleans Public Defenders on Monday said they will furlough staffers because the coronavirus shutdowns have drained their revenues, an early sign of how the pandemic could disrupt Louisiana’s criminal justice budgets.

The public defense agency, which relies heavily on revenue sources like traffic camera tickets and costs that defendants pay upon conviction, projects an $800,000 shortfall in the coming months.

In response, the agency plans hour and pay cuts that range from 10 to 30%, with more senior, higher-paid employees taking a bigger hit. Entry-level employees will be furloughed one out of 10 working days.

Chief District Defender Derwyn Bunton said the furloughs could last until at least the end of the fiscal year on June 30, when the Louisiana Legislature is set to unveil a new state budget. The agency will re-evaluate after it has a clearer sense of next year’s state funding.

“If the state budget is trimmed and we have to take cuts at the state level, then we have to reassess at that point,” he said.

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The public defenders have long criticized Louisiana’s “user pays” criminal justice system, which relies heavily on criminal defendants’ conviction fees and traffic scofflaws to pay for its operations. The agency has turned to lay-offs, hiring freezes and furloughs in response to budget cuts over the past decade.

This time around, with courts closed and most motorists stuck at home, the agency’s funding streams have once again dried up, Bunton said.

“The steps that are being taken by the mayor to make sure folks stay home and to flatten the curve -- we agree with all of those steps,” Bunton said. “But that’s the irony of our system. Doing the right thing should not cost a community its Constitutional rights.”

Bunton argued that the revenue shortfalls couldn’t come at a worse time. While many court hearings have been put on pause until the state reopens public spaces, the public defenders in New Orleans have mounted an aggressive push to slow the spread of COVID-19 by reducing the jail’s inmate population.

The furloughs will also hamper efforts to clear backlogs once the courts reopen, Bunton warned.

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Senior management began their furloughs on April 15 and the rest of the staff will follow on May 1, the public defenders said.

In addition to furloughs, the agency also plans to stop farming out cases where it has a conflict of interest, and to cease paying expert witnesses for trial preparation.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office said the coronavirus shutdown’s impact on its budget is still unclear.

"Mayor Cantrell already has warned of a city of New Orleans deficit that could exceed $150 million as a result of the COVID-19 shutdown, and it is unlikely that any city-funded agency will be immune to its eventual effects,” said office spokesman Ken Daley. “All we know at the moment is that our budget is intact through June. But we are not now in a position to determine if we will be affected by unexpected budget cuts, nor to what extent. "