50 Traffic Court Jobs To Be Axed

By Mark McDonald, Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: January 19, 1991

After a frequently stormy 2 1/2-hour meeting yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Nicholas P. Papadakos and Traffic Court President Judge George Twardy emerged with a scaled-down estimate for reducing the Traffic Court budget.

Papadakos, who earlier this week trimmed the Municipal Court budget by $1 million, said that the minimum budget cut for Traffic Court will be the equivalent of 50 positions, about $1.5 million. That's about half of what Papadakos last week estimated he could cut from Traffic Court.

"It's been more a learning lesson for me than a demanding session for the president judge," Papadakos said. "I'm not demanding too much of him yet."

Papadakos seemed to learn fast. He publicly argued with Twardy over the

size of the payroll, saying it was $4.7 million. Twardy sniffed that the figure was his entire budget and that the justice was in error, whereupon Papadakos whipped out a budget document and pointed to the figure.

Twardy said, "It's just not right."

Twardy said he wanted his court, in the past known as a patronage dumping ground, to become a "lean, mean machine." He said his staff will study his budget and recommend cuts.

"My problem is to cut the budget. The bottom line is that there will be less money next year to spend," Papadakos said. He said he didn't want to select the people to be fired. That will be left to Twardy.

"We've been going over every category of employment in the Traffic Court," Papadakos said. "You know Philadelphia is notorious for giving titles just to increase the pay. It's no different in Traffic Court than Common Pleas or Family Court."

As examples of the title inflation in the court, Papadakos cited "case interviewers" and "crisis intervention leaders" who "may be nothing more than a high-priced clerk."

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