LANSING- Legislation to create six circuit court judgeships by January 2007 looks almost certain to land on the governor's desk for her signature, but its fate is uncertain.

Additional judgeships would be created in the courts covering Kent, Genesee, Macomb, Clare, Gladwin, Oakland, Mecosta and Osceola counties.

"This is way overdue," said Rep. Tim Moore, R-Farwell. "We need to make sure that we have enough judges." Moore's district includes one proposed position for Clare and Gladwin counties.

But the additional judges come with additional cost.

Each would cost the state about $157,000, totaling just over $945,000. The non-partisan Senate fiscal analysis said that cost does not include the cost of benefits for judges, support staff wages and benefits, and facility space, all costs which fall to local government.

The judgeships were first recommended in the State Judicial Resources Recommendations Report. The report is issued every two years, and bases its decisions on factors like amount of cases, types of cases and facilities and staff available. The report also recommended cutting judgeships in Wayne County, Saginaw and Flint.

Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, chair of the judiciary committee, said that he agreed to not cut the three judgeships, but that the governor needed to "step up" and support their funding in her budget presentation later this week.

"If she does not include them in her budget, then we perhaps may need to re-think just what we can and cannot afford next year, and whether we ought to eliminate three judgeships," Cropsey said.

Granholm's office declined to release the parts of her budget relating to judges ahead of her Thursday, Feb. 9 budget presentation.

Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd said that the governor supports adding the new judges, but opposes cutting the judgeships in Wayne County, Saginaw and Flint.

"We need to address the needs of the whole state, not just part of the state," Boyd said.

Clare County prosecutor Norm Gage says that there is a need for more judges, but isn't holding his breath on getting one.

"I'm not convinced the state is in a position to fund it," Gage said.