by Mindy Aguon

Guam - With the possibility of being sued, the local Judiciary's management has ordered that personnel actions be cut for the increases that are due to Marshals and probation officers. Court Policy, Planning and Communications Director Maria Cenzon says the raises will cost about $600,000.

She told KUAM News, "This was yet another unfunded mandate that was handed down by the Legislature. The situation right now is it is a statutory requirement, so the Judiciary has been aware that it had to comply with the mandates set forth in the COPS Act; it was just a matter of finding the money to do so."

Cenzon says the courts budget was $3.2 million less than what the island's court system requested for Fiscal Year 2011. The raises should be reflected in next week's paycheck as the administrator of the court ordered that the personnel actions be cut today.