RALEIGH (AP) — Dozens of retired North Carolina judges are returning as volunteers to fill in for sick judges after budget cuts eliminated pay for emergency substitutes.

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The General Assembly cut the budget for the Administrative Office of the Courts by 6 percent this year. That shaved $30 million from salaries and training for judges, prosecutors and clerks. Emergency judges stopped receiving the $400 a day they used to get.

So 44 retired judges have agreed to come back to the bench to work for free, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Tuesday.

“We started realizing there was a crisis,” said Catherine Stevens, a Gaston County District Court judge who retired in 2000 and now lives in Chapel Hill. “The court system can’t operate without judges.”

If not for the volunteers, most judicial districts would have to cancel court sessions at the last minute, turning away citizens who expected to deal with their speeding ticket or divorce that day.

“If we didn’t come, the local judges would be scrambling,” said Joy Hamilton, a retired Wake County District Court judge. “Can you imagine taking off a day of work to get your case heard and then having to reschedule because the judge got sick and no one could fill in? And what if that was juvenile court? The child stays in an unstable situation longer?”

This year’s tight state budget forced court officials to cut spending by leaving vacant positions unfilled. Superior Court judges were ordered to stay in their home counties to save travel expenses they would otherwise incur by rotating to neighboring counties. Mileage reimbursement dropped in half to 25 cents a mile. Lawyers held fundraisers to buy office supplies for court workers.

John W. Smith, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, meant for the suspension in pay imposed in April to be temporary. After legislators and Gov. Beverly Perdue agreed on a budget last month, Smith reinstated their pay. But two weeks ago, Perdue ordered state agencies to cut their spending by 5 percent to preserve cash until tax revenues roll in. Smith again ordered pay to emergency judges halted.

“It’s inappropriate to continue this indefinitely,” Smith said. “It’s a core function of the state, and the public ought not to expect to get these services for free.”