FORT PIERCE -- Picture a Kinko's copy shop for legal documents: That could be the St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts Office after a new law takes effect requiring the once county-funded entity to begin operating on the amount of filing fees it takes in.

The transition is confusing, chaotic and overwhelming. So much so that even Assistant Clerk of Court Martha Hornsby, who is second in command, directed questions to information technology specialist Tanya Green and internal services coordinator Rose Blaha.

Green and Blaha have been consumed with preparing for the fee-based system, which begins to take effect Tuesday with some filing-fee increases.

The law makes the office operate more like a private business than a public record-keeper. Florida voters wanted the state to pay for court-related expenses so that courts statewide would offer a more uniform menu of services. As a result, some larger counties have had to cut programs, while smaller ones are finding they are able to add resources.

"As it looks right now, we think we are going to be OK," Blaha said tentatively. "But it is a new system, and we hoping for the best."

But creating a fee-based system requires a technology overhaul that Green said has her staff working overtime this holiday weekend.

"For the most part, we're updating the system we already have," she said.

But that's not as simple as it sounds. New databases have to be built to accommodate new or larger fees. In addition, a new collection system has to be created for poor people.

Before, poor people who qualified for assistance could get some fees waived. After July 1, they will be placed on payment plans if they can't pay a fee all at once, which means the computers at the clerk's office will have to accommodate partial payments and payment schedules. The current system does not.

The St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts office has had serious systems problems in the past. A computer glitch that began in 1999 with a program upgrade, which was intended to keep the Y2K bug from occurring, resulted in case keeping information on more than 228,000 traffic tickets from reaching Tallahassee.

Once the error was uncovered in the summer of 2003, thousands of angry drivers stood in line in the clerk's office clutching notices from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Many said they faced suspended licenses, even though they paid their tickets or went to traffic school.

An audit by Martin County Clerk of Courts Marsha Ewing showed St. Lucie County still is working to catch up on those reporting errors.

Court Administrator Tom Willis, when asked whether he believed the clerk's office would be ready for the big change, said: "I have no idea, it's a massive undertaking, especially setting up these payment schedules, but I'm sure our clerks will figure out how to handle it."

The Martin County clerk's office has operated on a fee-based system for some time. Ewing was on vacation and not available for comment last week.

It is expected that the St. Lucie clerk's office will receive some kind of contribution from the county, but it will not be clear until July, when the county begins its budgeting process, how much that will be. Last year, the clerk received $3.7 million from the county.

Fees are going up to accommodate whatever loss, if any, the clerk's office will have to weather. Filing a civil court case used to cost about $140. After July, it will cost $255. A divorce used to cost $208. After July, it is expected to be around $300.

But now, Green, the information technology specialist, is worried about building the system to accommodate that change. And that's enough.

"It's unbelievable," she said. "There are a lot of things happening, and a lot of things changing at the last minute."

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-- Anonymous, May 31, 2004

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