Bob Gernon would be happy to pound his gavel and order that Douglas County receive state financing for a sixth district court judge.

If only it were that easy.

“With the budget the way it is, the Legislature hopefully will — and the Supreme Court, I know, does — support addition of another district judge,” Gernon said Monday during a meeting with judges and county commissioners. “It can be justified easily that you’re entitled to another district judge.”

But Gernon, a Kansas Supreme Court justice, knows the difference between making a case and winning one can be big, especially with the state facing a deepening financial hole.

In June, the Supreme Court extended a set of temporary fee increases originally meant to expire then that, among other things, will keep marriage licenses at $75, up from $50. The increases are meant to restore about $3.5 million that had been cut from the state judicial branch’s budget.

“It’s not the way to go,” Gernon told commissioners, referring to the fee increases, “but it’s a way to survive.”

Gernon urged county commissioners to keep pressure on the Kansas Legislature. Once the economy turns around, he said, lawmakers should be more likely to find the money needed to give the county a full docket of judges.

“You ought to state the need and keep stating the need,” Gernon said. “Just because we’re not optimistic is no reason not to state the situation.”

Douglas County’s five state-financed district judges each handled an average of 2,528 cases during the 2002 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2002. That’s up more than 9 percent from the average of 2,311 cases handled by each of the county’s four district judges in fiscal 1994, the year legislators agreed to finance the addition of Judge Paula Martin.

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There’s no reason to think the load of criminal, civil and other cases will lighten up anytime soon, Gernon said.

“We’re a growth industry here,” said Gernon, a Lawrence resident. “As the population grows, you’re going to have more cases here. Everyone wants to move to Lawrence. It’s a great place to live.”

But adding a judge isn’t cheap, something county commissioners know all too well.

Two years ago, commissioners agreed to spend $150,000 a year to provide some judicial relief by paying the tab for the salary and staff of Judge Pro Tem Peggy Kittel. The judge handles some 2,800 cases a year, including those involving juvenile offenders.

“She saves our life,” said Judge Paul Fairchild, the county’s administrative judge.

But even with Kittel’s help, the county’s per-judge caseload had swollen to the second-largest in Kansas. And as case counts rise, noncriminal matters — including divorce and small-claims cases — get pushed further down the priority list.

That’s why county officials are pushing legislators to put the money where the needs are. The idea that state law still mandates that each county — no matter how small — have at least one district judge rankles Bob Johnson, commission chairman.

“It’s terrible,” said Johnson, who would prefer to see judicial resources reallocated to those areas that need it most. “It makes no sense to have judges who are less than full-time occupied.”

But judges gathered around the conference table emphasized that even if the state accepted the county’s case — that another judge not only was justified, but imperative — it only would go so far.

“By the time we get another judge,” Judge Jean Shepherd said, “we’ll probably be in line for another.”