ALBANY – Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau faced some unusually tough questions at a hearing yesterday on the judiciary’s request for a 7.4 percent increase in spending for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
While Judge Pfau held her ground in maintaining that a $2.7 billion budget is necessary for judges to meet their constitutional obligation to “hear and decide each and every case that is filed with the courts,” a few legislators said the $183.5 million increase is inappropriate, given that virtually all state agencies are being required to tighten their belts.
