CONCORD – Nashua’s political, legal, business, law enforcement and human service leadership warned Thursday that a proposed closure of the city’s Superior Court would cost the city much more than it would save the state’s court budget.

Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, a former 16-year state legislator, said she didn’t come to Concord in recent years to protest budget cuts that slashed aid to cities and towns.

But this change would strain the police budget, deny victims and defendants easy access to justice, and weaken her efforts to lure new businesses to the city and expand existing ones, Lozeau told the House Judiciary Committee.

“I am knocking on your door today because the cost for closing the superior court for my city is much more than cost of savings to the judicial branch,” Lozeau said.

“I know that times are tough. Don’t make the mistake of eliminating this long-term investment for a short-term gain.”

Judicial administrators estimate that closing Nashua’s superior court and combining operations at Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester would save more than $300,000 a year beginning in 2016.

Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau said that with the move, more judges in one location could efficiently handle more cases.

The savings would equal one-full time judge and two staff or six other court workers.

“It is a new world, requiring a new vision, and we can’t rely on the old way of doing things to face the challenges of the future,” Nadeau said.

The Nashua court on Spring Street will be fully functional as the home of a circuit court that combines local district, probate and family courts in one location.

“This is a legislative policy decision, and we will willingly live with whatever the Legislature decides,” Nadeau said.

Last spring, Supreme Court Chief Justice Linda Dailanis backed off on this move in the two-year state budget, agreeing to submit it as a new bill (HB 1565) in 2012.

She was sitting in court hearing oral arguments and sent a letter of support for the bill Thursday.

“My heart is in Nashua. My roots are in Nashua. I do not suggest consolidation of the Hillsborough County Superior Court lightly,” Dalianis said. “I believe the consolidation of the two courts meets a sound financial objective.”

General Counsel Howard Zibel noted that residents had only one Manchester court in Hillsborough County for 200 years until the state built the second one at the former Spring Street Junior High School site in 1992.

But Sen. Gary Lambert, R-Nashua, said the closing would cost the economy money spent by jurors, lawyers, witnesses and defendants who visit the downtown court.

“I don’t think there is one state in America where the second-largest city in that state does not have a superior court,” said Lambert, a 30-year lawyer and expert in patent and copyright law.

“I would hope New Hampshire would not want to be first in the nation in that regard.”

Kristie Palestino is executive director of the Granite State Children’s Alliance of Child Advocacy Centers across the state and spoke on behalf of the 300 families served in Nashua.

The move would force families, many of them low-income, to find or pay for transportation to and from Manchester’s court, 18 miles north of Nashua.

“The strain on the families and children we serve will significantly increase,” she said.

Nashua Police Chief John Seusing said this would eliminate his ability to have police officers and detectives remain on the street and be on call for when they have to appear at Superior Court cases.

Moving to Manchester would dramatically increase the $25,000 Soucy spent last year on witness fees for officers to be off duty to testify in court, he said.

“We will have to hire officers to backfill those officers who go up to Manchester,” Seusing said.

Sen. Jim Luther, R-Hollis, said Manchester’s court has poor parking that would add to the travel and delay time for Greater Nashua residents.

Luther and other opponents also noted that the population of 200,000 in the southern section of Hillsborough is larger than four other counties that have their own courts.

“If Nashua and Manchester were in different counties, we wouldn’t even be talking about this,” Luther said.

Nashua accountant David Heath questioned the savings claim of state judicial leaders and promised to come up with a different estimate.

Hillsborough County Sheriff James Hardy said his staff and those in the judicial branch have worked on an improved security plan for the Nashua court building.

“It’s not really about the lawyers,” Hardy said. “It’s really about the litigants and the witnesses and the defendants who come to use this courthouse.”

“We are making this work. It is not broke and does not need to be fixed.”

Kevin Landrigan can reached at 321-7040 or klandrigan@nashuatelegraph.com; also check out Kevin Landrigan (@KLandrigan) on Twitter and don’t forget The Telegraph’s new, interactive live feed at www.nashuatelegraph.com/topics/livefeed.

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