The Judicial branch, which operates Connecticut's court system, is expected to absorb a $15 million budget reduction for the remainder of the fiscal year without cutting services to the public, laying off staff or closing facilities.

The General Assembly, faced with a $350 million shortfall, passed a deficit reduction bill at a special session in December that required $15 million in reductions from the Judicial Branch. 

While some lawmakers had proposed cuts of up to $22 million that included closing courthouses, the facilities were spared in the final agreement, and the branch had the flexibility of reshaping its budget as administrators saw fit.

Thomas A. Siconolifi, executive director of administrative services for the branch, said in a phone interview Wednesday that the branch, knowing a budget shortfall was looming, had been careful about filling vacancies and permitting overtime.

The Judicial branch, which had an approved budget of $555 million for the current fiscal year, employs 4,300 people in 70 locations, including 43 courthouses.

Siconolfi said the real cut to the Judicial branch is $13,214,884 million, and that the remaining reduction, of $1,685,416, will be made by the Division of Public Defender Services, a separate, nonjudicial agency.

Spending for the year has been lower than anticipated, even at the private, nonprofit organizations that provide services and will share in the cuts, he said.

"It's a solid plan that keeps intact all the core things we need to do," he said. "We've shared it with our partners in the executive and legislative branches."

About $6.6 million of the savings will come from the personal services, or employee portion of the budget, where 150 vacant positions will remain unfilled, he said.

Under the reworked budget plan for the remainder of the year, the branch will be able to hire judicial marshals, which it needs "desperately," Siconolfi said. The branch has 700 marshals but actually needs 800, he said.  

A class of 60 recruits starts training on Friday.

The branch is targeting $1.5 million in savings in operating expenses, some of which will be achieved due to the lower cost of utilities, he said.

The balance of the reductions — about $5.2 million — will come from private and nonprofit agencies that contract with the branch to provide services to adults and juveniles involved in the court system.

The agencies have vacant positions, and spending has been lower than anticipated, he said.

"We would emphasize that we are not cutting any services," Siconolfi said. "We're not reducing the number of slots available to juveniles or adults. We are looking at money that isn't being spent."

The vast majority of the branch's employees belong to four unions, all of which have contracts that expire on June 30, 2016.

"We're in preliminary states of negotiations with all of them, as is the Executive Branch," Siconolfi said.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN