30 Ways in 30 Days: County Courts

County Courts Would Feel the Squeeze from Budget Cuts

County court fees and costs would likely have to be increased to compensate for a $1.3 million reduction in state support for county courts proposed in Senate Bill 850. This would come on top of a $2 million reduction put forward in Governor Rendell's proposed budget.

HARRISBURG (June 17, 2009) - More than 20 years ago, a Pennsylvania court ordered the state to fund and administrate a unified judicial system, but today counties still only receive a modest amount of state funding for common pleas courts.

Local taxpayers, who already fund the majority of local court costs, will have to pick up more of the tab if deep cuts to county court funding under consideration in the state Legislature are adopted. That could mean higher court fees or local taxes.

Governor Ed Rendell proposed a $2 million reduction in state support for county courts for the 2009-10 Fiscal Year, while Senate Bill 850 would cut an additional $1.3 million. State court officials and county commissioners have voiced concern about how local courts would make up the cuts to fund constitutionally-mandated salaries for judges and other judicial services.

"Court costs have been reimbursed by the commonwealth at $70,000 per judge since the early 1980s," Monroe County Commissioner Donna Asure testified before the House Appropriations Committee last month. "Senate Bill 850 deepens the cut to per judge reimbursement by ... almost 4%."

Asure said that Senate Bill 850 also proposed funding cuts for intermediate punishment, senior judge support grants, juror costs, judicial system security and JNET, the state's public safety and criminal justice information system.

To learn more about the impact of potential state budget cuts on county court systems, contact Douglas Hill, Executive Director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, at 717-232-7554 x 3115.

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