Reduced Alameda Co. court clerk hours starting Tuesday

Alameda County Superior Court clerks’ office hours are being reduced starting Tuesday as a result of a sizable budget deficit.

Court officials made the announcement about the reduced hours in November, citing a budget deficit of more than $5 million to start fiscal year 2016-17, court officials said.

To save money, clerks’ offices at all county courthouses will open at the same 8:30 a.m. time but will close two hours earlier, at 2:30 p.m.

instead of 4:30 p.m., on Mondays through Fridays.

Traffic clerk offices, which had been open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, will instead also close at 2:30 p.m.

Telephone hours in all clerks’ offices will be reduced to 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with the exception of traffic clerks and the jury services office, which will remain open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Alameda County court officials have made other cost-cutting moves recently, including closing most courthouses in the county between Dec. 23 and Monday.

Other steps taken include eliminating a number of vacant staff positions and eliminating the use of overtime or comp time for staff except in “very narrow” instances, court officials said.

Court officials said while the state’s economy has improved in recent years, certain courts like Alameda County’s have been deemed to be “donor” courts and portions of their ongoing funding are being diverted to other counties whose courts have been deemed to be more under-resourced.