Juvenile Matters Court at Danbury will be closed due to state budget cuts.  Chief Court Administrator Patrick Carroll announced the first round of closings today.  The Judicial Branch budget for the coming fiscal year is $77 million less. 

Plans call for cases from Juvenile Matters at Danbury to be transferred to Juvenile Matters at Bridgeport and Waterbury.  Juvenile Matters at Torrington, Juvenile Matters at Stamford and the Judicial District Courthouse in Willimantic will also be closed by the end of the calendar year. 

Carroll said these closings will be disruptive and will impact many people. He notes that the savings generated by closing the facilities are required because of the loss of staff, through attrition, a strict hiring freeze and layoffs that have already been announced. 

To date, layoff notices have been issued to 239 permanent Judicial Branch employees across a wide range of job classifications. The layoffs are effective the close of business on June 23.  An additional 61 temporary employees assigned to courthouses have been informed that the Branch can no longer utilize their services as of the close of business on June 22.