Brookline Courthouse Escapes Chopping Block

It appears the Brookline District Court is here to stay – for now.

The courthouse, located adjacent to the police station on Washington Street, was not among the 15 court facilities targeted for consolidation or relocation in a list released by the Massachusetts Court System yesterday. The list represents the recommendations of a committee of court officials established earlier this year, and will be vetted through a public input process before any courts are closed.

Brookline officials has feared the court system, which faces a $21 million shortfall under the state budget that went into effect earlier this month, would shutter the Brookline court as a cost staving measure and move all court programs to Dedham. At the urging of Police Chief Daniel O'Leary, Brookline selectmen last month petitioned state lawmakers to keep the court open.

"All along, we were left to believe Brookline had a great possibility of being on [the list], which is why we did what we did," Chief O'Leary said. "I like to think that played a role, once they saw how important the Brookline court is to the Brookline community."

O'Leary had argued that some of his department's most successful programs – including a pre-trial probationary program that allows college students to avoid getting a criminal record if they stop hosting loud parties – depend on close cooperation with municipal court workers and might be at risk if court offices were moved to Dedham.

Joan Kenney, a spokesman for the court system, said court officials looked at a variety of factors, including geography, transportation and personnel impact, when crafting the list of targeted court facilities, but noted that many of the recommendations were based on whether courthouses are owned by the state or leased by from a private property owner.

"That's where the savings are," she said.

Kenney did not know whether the lease status of Brookline's courthouse was a factor in the decision to leave it off the list. The building is owned by Norfolk County, according to the assessor's database.

It's not clear when the court system will make a final decision on court closures, but in a statement on its website, the courts noted that budget cuts in the state budget "requires that relocation efforts move forward more quickly than originally planned."