Gregory Hurley
Budget Resource Center
CourTools Measure 7: Collection of Fees and Fines
ICM offers budget & fiscal management course.
ICM's latest course, Budget & Fiscal Management, allows participants to develop an understanding of how to manage a court’s financial resources. The course will be held August 14-16, 2018, at NCSC headquarters in Williamsburg, Va.
While courts do secure some funding through grants from federal agencies and private institutions, the majority of state court funding comes from state and local government appropriations, with some additional funding coming from court costs. Consequently, the debates over court funding tend to be intergovernmental in nature, with courts competing with other government agencies for public funding at both the state and local levels.
Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.
Information on states' budgets.
Search the Gavel to Gavel legislation database based on state, year, legislation category, or any combination. Bill Type = "Salary & Budgets".
This study is directed at suggesting ways to improve the operations, staffing, and performance of the Thirty‐Sixth District Court (“the Court,” “District 36,”“D36”) serving the City of Detroit in light of grave financial problems facing it. The City is the Court’s principal funding source. An austere budget for the City and Court will be essential in the next few years and beyond.
This short work discusses how court administration changes over time. Tobin first looks at court administration at the start of the judicial branch and notes the changes seen during certain time periods and broadly discusses the organization of modern court administration.
Evaluation of California's Trial Court Funding Program, which uses block grants rather than direct appropriations to finance the courts.
This report summarizes the implications from Oregon's state financing of its courts, and draws lessons from Oregon's experiences that can be used by other states considering state financing.
This article reports on the status of state court budgets and notes the strategies used by courts during the previous recession to address budget gaps. Because demand for judicial services remains high, courts are faced with tough choices to address budget concerns. Business-process redesign may offer a longer-term solution.
This report summarizes the findings of four statewide case studies of states where the judiciary is state financed, and provides suggestions to states considering state financing.
This report summarizes the implications from Illinois' state financing of its courts, and draws lessons from Illinois' experiences that can be used by other states considering state financing.
This document summarizes observations and lessons learned from state experiences in handling the recessions of the early 1990d and early 2000s.
The 2008 economic crisis could test the relationship between the three branches of government in terms of both funding state court operations and other programs while maintaining an adequate system of checks and balances.
Well into the first year of the recession, state courts have taken cuts that are affecting the way judicial services are being delivered. As it becomes apparent that the breadth and depth of the recession will impact courts for several more years, courts are looking at policy options that could shape the face of courts for years to come.
Many courts are challenged to maintain high levels of court security and business continuity plans with increasingly limited resources. Drawing on the experience of an urban court, the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County (the superior court), a collaborative systems approach can help courts leverage available resources and reengineer essential security services.
This publication combines four studies that suggest a plausible theory: cost inefficiencies in the civil justice process reduce court access, delay contributes to unnecessary cost, and discovery procedure is a key factor with respect to both cost and delay. The survey results provide a starting point for further research on such a theory and on how the process might be improved without affecting fairness.
This report summarizes the discussion of the National Interbranch Conference on funding the State Courts, which brought together governors, legislators, and court personnel to address the issue of funding the judiciary and encourage interbranch cooperation on this topic.
This report is one of a series of reports that are designed to elaborate and expand upon sections of the NACM Trial Court Financial Management Guide. The principal purpose of the project is to identify fundamental changes and basic management strategies that help courts to maximize their efficiency and to maintain, if not increase, their productivity in the face of resource limitations.
This article discusses the Missouri Judiciary, using existing data, has analyzed how current programs and proposed budgetary changes impact court functions. By gathering input from affected stakeholders, the often adversarial nature of budget cuts is minimized in interactions between the state and the judiciary and between the courts and court administration.
This book is intended for public administrators, court managers, and judges who are responsible for the preparation or review of court budget requests.
Provides a historical perspective of the effects of state budgets on courts and discusses what courts have done, and will need to do, to cope with budget issues.
discussion of the budgetary challenges state courts are facing and the impact that the lack of funding is having on court programs and services.
This guide is designed for judicial administrators involved or about to become involved in the process of transition from local financing to state financing.