WETUMPKA -- District Attorney Randall Houston can't bank on one of his largest funding sources to help make up for an expected 10 percent cut in state funding for the upcoming budget year.

Budget cuts and the growing trend of more people using debit and checking account cards are threatening to cut deeply into the money Houston's Worthless Check Unit brings into the 19th Judicial Circuit district attorney's office. Last year, the unit accounted for more than a third of the office's budget.

"If the use of these cards continues, a major funding source for district attorneys' offices will dry up," Houston said. "It puts this office in a very tough spot. We are already a lean operation. Our business is based on how active the criminal element is. We really can't cut services or overhead, so we have to find more funding sources."

The Worthless Check Unit collects on bounced checks. The business receives restitution on the amount the check was written for, and each check that is tracked down means $94 for the district attorney's office. That fee is paid by the check's writer.

Houston is concerned the increasing use of debit cards and checking account cards will cut down on the number of bounced checks. With check cards, the transaction won't take place unless there is money in the account to cover the purchase or service.

"While that is good for business, it's bad for cash-strapped district attorneys' offices," Houston said.

The Montgomery DA's office already is feeling the squeeze as far as the debit cards go. The Montgomery County District Attorney's office collected on 6,330 bad checks for $821,108 for calendar year 2002, said District Attorney Ellen Brooks. That amount was down by about 14 percent from 2001, she said.

"We feel the decrease is directly connected to bank card use," she said. "So that source of funds will continue to decline in the future."

Houston's 19th Circuit office, which has a budget of $1.54 million this year, stands to lose about $38,000 in state funding for the next budget cycle, Houston said. The Legislature provides right at 25 percent of the budget.

"(That) may not sound like much, but when you're operating on such a lean budget to begin with, $40,000 is a lot of money," he said. "We really don't have the ability to make up the money from our other funding sources. Worthless checks are a good source, but funds from that unit will continue to decline in the future."

According to Bank Systems and Technology, an online banking industry publisher, more than four out of five U.S. account holders, or 82 percent, have an ATM/debit card, and 86 percent of users have made a card purchase in the past 30 days. Bank and debit card usage is growing by about 18 to 20 percent each year on a national basis.

Local merchants say it makes good sense, from a business standpoint, to encourage the increased use of cards.

"The good thing about the bank cards is you know just about immediately if it goes through or not," said Leroy Jones, who began accepting debit cards two years ago at Big Bass, his bait and tackle/convenience store just west of Prattville. "That means you know you will get your money. I know more and more people seem to be using them."

The cards eliminate one of the necessary evils of doing business -- the risk of bad checks.

"You can't operate on a cash-only basis," he said. "When you get a bounced check, it really hurts, because that comes right out of my pocket."

Bounced checks are a constant problem for businesses. Autauga County Sheriff Herbie Johnson calls the practice "robbing a person with a pen instead of a gun."

These are not people who just happen to bounce a check occasionally, due to not keeping the balance reconciled, he said.

"There's a group of people out there who knowingly write checks on closed accounts, or know there's no money in the account to cover the check," Johnson said. "We see the same ones in and out of our jail all the time."

Rubber checks don't cause problems just for businesses.

"The biggest percentage of inmates in my jail are people in on hot checks and those behind on child support payments," said Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin. "We can't bond the check writers out until they pay their fines and checks, or they sit the costs out. For every day you stay in jail, you get $25 for the costs."

If the check writer "sits out" the costs, the business gets no restitution and the district attorney gets no fee.

"Obviously for everyone concerned, we don't want people going to jail," Houston said. "It gives the sheriffs headaches; it's not good for the businesses. The majority of the people we contact on worthless checks come in and take care of them.

"But again, the swipe cards are cutting into our cases."

Houston has a worthless check coordinator in each of the three counties in the circuit. There are three other staffers who assist in the effort. Brooks has five people in her Worthless Check Unit in Montgomery County.

Brooks said one possible solution to a likely shortfall in funds would be to make the criminals pay more for their misdeeds. "We are going to work on increasing the amount of restitution into the system," she said. "That helps everyone -- courts, victims and this office."

Houston said he sees problems in increasing restitution collections.

"Staffing is a problem," he said. "Our district courts are swamped with cases now, our circuit clerks are doing all they can do. All these agencies face state budget cuts, so they will be struggling to cut expenses as well. The sheriff's departments don't have enough deputies to patrol now. I don't want to take a deputy off the road to deliver more paperwork. It's a situation where you have to make the best use of your resources."

Houston says to make ends meet, he will pursue more federal grants and cut operating costs. The office received about 20 percent of its budget this year from grants: a domestic violence grant, a drug task force grant and a gun violence grant. Since the grants are federally funded, the money should be available, Houston said. He has a grant writer on staff who also is responsible for overseeing the administrative duties of the three offices.

"My primary goal is to make sure everybody keeps their jobs in this office," Houston said. "We can't become any more lean and do our jobs. Everybody is already doing two to three jobs. I have eight lawyers on staff, everybody except the lawyers are cross-trained in other jobs. We work 20,000 cases a year. There's no private firm out there who can handle 20,000 cases a year with less staff."

Meanwhile, residents in the circuit are worried about crime rates going up in the wake of budget cuts.