The Legal Aid Bucks County division in Bristol and Doylestown, has initiated cost reduction measures to make up for a budget shortfall of $150,000 for this year, including a freeze on salaries and contributions to the staff retirement funds. Moreover, it will soon be operating on a four day workweek. Despite the ongoing cuts, officials are predicting they will still have to turn away clients due to lack of funding.
The private non-profit organization started to experience a financial shortfall last year when interest rates were cut, because half of the organization's funding comes from the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA). In Pennsylvania, the IOLTA sets up accounts and uses interest on the money that is held in trust for short periods of time by the lawyers before disbursing to their clients. The state's IOLTA collects the interest that is sent from the lawyers' accounts, and grants such monies to Legal Aid and similar organizations or programs.
Frank Sullivan, Attorney and Campaign Chairman, says that "there is a sense of urgency."
Legal Aid attorneys handle various legal proceedings including foreclosure, bankruptcy, family law, custody, termination of parental rights, social security and unemployment issues. Legal Aid is available for about 21% of the county's population who are eligible for help. In order to qualify, clients must meet certain criteria, including, an annual income of less than $27,000 for a family of four. Seniors citizens with an income of $11,000 or less annually are also eligible.
According to Fritsch, the financial shortfall and reduction in service is hurting the “most vulnerable members of society” and "this is about equal justice, about everyone having a key to the courthouse. Everyone, no matter how much money they have, is entitled to have their say."
