Overview

• The Missouri Judiciary is funded by both the state and the counties.  The state pays the salaries of general jurisdiction judges; payment for most other costs is divided between the state and the counties.
• Missouri’s budget increased from $184.8 million in FY11 to $185.2 million in FY12, an increase of less than 1%.  Its FY11 budget had been reduced during the fiscal year.  The Missouri courts will be able to maintain the same number of judicial officers and staff and will be able to increase spending on operating costs.  Missouri received funding to enable it to expand their drug courts.
• Missouri has frozen the salaries of judges and staff, imposed staff layoffs, delayed filling judicial vacancies, delayed filling vacancies in the clerks’ offices and in judicial support positions and reduced the use or retired judges. 
• Reductions are having an impact on court services: Staff in 6 juvenile detention facilities are being eliminated so juveniles will be transported greater distances and parents will have to travel farther to see their children. In addition, most courts are experiencing delays in handling cases and litigants are waiting longer times before going to court.  Turnover of staff causes work delays and litigants to wait longer periods of time before going to court.
• Missouri had implemented a number of technology initiatives: e-citations were just recently implemented.  E-payment of fees and fines is making it more convenient for parties to make payments.  An electronic document management system is making it more convenient for court staff to access documents and making it easier for the public to view documents via the internet. Videoconferencing of hearings is increasing public safety, reducing disruption at the courthouse and providing more dignified hearings for mental health patients.
• The Missouri courts are identifying and implementing a number of best practices, including:

   
• the enhancement of court collections;
• the development of a juvenile detention alternatives assessment instrument to assist with determining whether to place a juvenile in secure detention; and
• the development of a language assistance plan and local language access plans, and, plans to meet the needs of the local limited English proficiency community.
• Missouri is working to reallocate staff:  every 3 years Missouri conducts a workload study to assist with the allocation of state-paid clerical resources. The new study is complete and courts with a negative clerical need will begin to lose positions through attrition. Positions may be reallocated during the next fiscal year depending on the state of the budget.

Reports and Articles

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