Discussion and direction on the use of Justice Court Enhancement Funds to fund personnel.

The subject of this work session is to obtain thoughts and direction from the BOS on the use of the Justice Court Enhancement Fund specifically for personnel.

During one of the work sessions on the FY 2011/2012 Budget, particularly during the presentation from the Courts Departments, it came to the BOS’ attention there was an expectation that personnel could be funded from the Justice Court Enhancement Fund. In discussions with Supervisor Call subsequent to the meeting, he thought the original policy specifically excluded the use of Enhancement funds for personnel. Since that time, staff has received a formal request from Justice Court #5 (Judge Tim Dickerson) to use this funding source for temp personnel. A copy of Judge Dickerson’s request is attached. As a result, staff needs clarification from the BOS on the use of this source for this purpose.

The Justice Court Enhancement Fund was established by BOS Resolution 04-106 on November 23, 2004 and the intent outlined in the cover letter from the Court Administrator dated November 16, 2004 was clear that the Enhancement Fund was not to be used to fund additional personnel. A copy of the entire letter is attached. Following is an excerpt from that letter:

As to the special funds created for the justice court portions of the warrant and driver’s license fees, our proposal recommends those funds be utilized for one-time capital needs, as opposed to funding additional personnel. Our projections suggest that these fees would generate anywhere from $22,000 in the Bisbee Justice Court to $83,000 in the Sierra vista Justice Court.

Reviewing the language of Resolution 04-106, Section 2.3 specifically mentions excluding “non-personnel” related expenses. Although this section references the Reserve Fund, this language together with the cover letter would have led the BOS to understand the types of expenditures that would be made from this Fund.




Section 3.3 of the same Resolution outlines more of the detail associated with the Court Enhancement Fund. Section 3.3 follows:



The BOS was asked to increase certain fees and establish new ones on April 29, 2008. A copy of Resolution 08-024, approved by the BOS, is attached. There was a cover letter included from the Court Administrator that outlined the various changes proposed by the Courts, but made no mention of any change to the way monies from the Enhancement Fund could be expended. Section 1.1 appears to be unchanged from Resolution 04-106 and is shown below:

1.1 Purpose. It is the purpose of this administrative fee schedule to defray certain costs in the Justice Courts associated with the additional work related to issuing and processing numerous warrants, the suspension of driving privileges and the collection of penalties, fines or sanctions on a time payment basis. It further establishes a Court Enhancement Fee to provide funds supplementing, but not supplanting, budgeted funds dedicated to staff and operational requirements of judges pro tem in superior court and for advancing court operations. The Court Enhancement Fund shall not be deemed to relieve the county of its funding responsibilities to the overall operation of the judicial branch.

However, in reviewing the language contained in Section 5.2 of the Resolution, it is clear that language was added to expand the use of this funding source to include any expenditure as determined by the Court. It would appear that this language change was purposeful and was an attempt to either expand or clarify how these funds could be used. Section 5.2 is included below for your convenience:

5.2 Justice Court Enhancement Funds. The Justice Court Enhancement Funds shall be established as a non-reverting special revenue fund for each Justice Court to provide the courts with supplemental funding for any expenditures as determined by the court. The utilization of each Justice Court’s Enhancement Fund will be incorporated into each fiscal year’s budget planning cycle. When the need to utilize local enhancement funds otherwise arises, each Justice of the Peace will submit a request for expenditure through the office of Court Administration for Presiding Judge review and approval and a request for approval to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors. Court Administration will be responsible for record keeping of any expenditure that occurs outside the normal budget process. The Enhancement Fund shall be used to supplement, but not supplant, budgeted funds. Interest earned on fund monies shall be deposited into the fund.

Hence, there was a clear change in policy on the use of these funds. Given that it may not have been clear to the BOS that the changes to the fee structure included changing the restrictions on how these monies could be used, staff has brought this matter back to you for further direction/clarification.

Should the BOS want monies from this fund to be expended as originally proposed by the Court Administrator for one-time capital investments, staff will bring back a revised resolution for consideration clarifying this point. If the use of this funding source for personnel is what the BOS intended, staff will work with the Court Administrator to approve the request from Judge Dickerson for temp staffing using the Enhancement Fund as the funding source.

The staff will have direction from the BOS on the use of the Justice Court Enhancement Fund for personnel.