by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Tuesday appeared to be a day like any other at the Duval County Courthouse as clerks served customers and judges presided over cases.
The only difference was the state court system has run out of money.
If not for Gov. Rick Scott approving an emergency appropriation of $14 million March 22, courts would not be able to meet obligations for payroll and operating expenses.
“It’s working out,” said Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran, on the operation of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. “We are doing the best we can.”
The $14 million appropriation includes $12 million from a temporary transfer from Mediation Arbitration Trust Fund Unobligated Cash to the State Courts Revenue Trust Fund and $2 million from a temporary transfer from the Court Education Trust.
As March comes to a close, Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady is working to avoid a fiscal 2010-11 deficit of just over $72 million.
The courts’ budget veered into the red because projected foreclosure filing fee revenues did not meet expectations, Canady stated in a letter to Scott.
The State Courts Revenue Trust Fund was established and initially funded in 2009 during a special session of the Legislature to designate a portion of the filing fee revenue paid by individuals accessing the court system to be dedicated to the court system.
That was followed by the Legislature directing additional revenue streams into the fund during the 2009 regular legislative session.
One of these streams was the increased filing fees for real property/mortgage foreclosure cases.
The total court system budget is $462 million, with $370 million currently funded from the Revenue Trust Fund, so payroll and operating expenses depend on the health of the trust fund.
Of the $370 million, $293.6 million “was projected to come from real property/mortgage foreclosure filing fees this year,” wrote Canady.
“However, for current Fiscal Year 2010/11, the mortgage foreclosure filings have dropped dramatically below the official projections on which the budget was based,” he wrote
Revenue from foreclosure filings was projected at $379.8 million, but the most recent projections put it at $216.7 million, according to the Office of the State Courts Administrator.
Duval County has experienced a substantial reduction in foreclosure filings also, falling from a monthly average of about 840 in 2010 to an average of about 440 a month through the first three months of 2011.
In addition to the funding request, Canady’s plan includes a branchwide hiring freeze and operating budget freeze.
Canady’s plan also included a request for a “$28,483,326 temporary transfer from Other funds to State Courts Revenue Trust Fund.”
The Governor’s Office of Policy and Budget is reviewing the request. The initial funds were approved to allow the courts to operate until April 30, which would allow the governor and Legislature to work with the courts to develop a solution to the budget problem.
Canady also informed the governor that the Article V Estimating Conference projections for the Revenue Trust Fund call for a rebound next fiscal year of close to $200 million.
“Given the volatility of the foreclosure crisis in this state, I have some reservations about that projection,” Canady stated in the letter.
Regardless of the market, the courts are working with the Legislature to lessen the courts’ dependency on foreclosure filing fees.
“We should find out about (May and June) and next year’s budget by the end of the legislative session, which is the end of April,” said Moran. “We’ll see.”
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