Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
One of three district courthouses that serve Bristol Township could close.
The Bucks County court system has filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to close Magisterial District Court 07-1-04, which is located at the county complex along New Falls Road in Levittown.
Advertisements
The court was previously presided over by District Judge Robert Wagner, who retired at the end of 2020. The court is currently being overseen by a senior district judge.
The potential closure is the first since the county closed two courts – one in Lower Southampton and one in Perkasie – in 2017.
The decision to file for the closure of the district court in Bristol Township came after Wagner’s retirement, according to Bucks County Court Administrator Stephen Heckman.
Advertisements
“The decision to request the closure of this court was carefully considered. We would prefer to avoid the closure of any court,” he told LevittownNow.com.
Heckman said the county court system looked at Wagner’s retirement when considering which courts to consolidate.
Advertisements
“We would rather proactively choose to close a court with an open seat than to have our hand forced regarding courts that may not have open seats,” he said.
Data the county used to make their determination showed that the court ranks 9 out of 18 district courts based on 2019 caseload statistics. Heckman noted that 2020 statistics were not used because the pandemic skewed those results.
Between 2015 and 2019, the court saw its caseload drop by 14.5 percent and the caseloads of surrounding courts dropped by nearly 22 percent.
Advertisements
Heckman noted another factor is that there are several district courts within a few miles of one another.
“Given this concentration of courts, we do not anticipate that public or police department access to the courts will be adversely affected should the Supreme Court approve our petition,” he said.
Advertisements
District Judge Kevin Wagner’s court on Bath Road and District Judge Frank Peranteau’s court on Bath Street in Bristol Borough both handle cases from Bristol Township, the county’s second largest municipality in terms of population. Magisterial District Court 07-1-04 currently handles cases from Bristol Township and Tullytown Borough.
District Judge Jan Vislosky’s court on New Falls Road in Falls Township and District Judge John Kelly’s court on Trenton Road in Middletown Township just sit under three miles from the court that could be closed.
Advertisements
In justifying the potential closure, Heckman said the county court system could save close to $450,000 per year by shuttering the court. He noted that the closure would help reduce the COVID-19-induced strain on the budget.
“While the decision to make a request to eliminate and modify these districts was a difficult one, for the above reasons we believe it is in the best interests of the citizens of Bucks County to act now,” he said.
Advertisements
Bristol Township Council President Craig Bowen said he has some “concerns about how the residents of Bristol Township will be served” if the court is closed.
If the state supreme court approves the closure, the court would wind down operations by the end of 2021.
The county owns the courthouse that could be closed. Future plans for the site were not revealed.
Advertisements
Correction: A previous version of this story said the court would wind down operations in 2020, but it should have said 2021.
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
