Clerks of courts and comptrollers in Florida’s 67 counties will be able to better fund their services and stabilize annual budgets with the Legislature unanimously passing House and Senate bills expected to be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Senate Bill 838 and House Bill 903 authorize clerks and comptrollers to establish and maintain reserve funds from one year to the next and also allow enhancement of payment options for consumers.
“This legislation will greatly benefit our ability to begin fixing the way our services are funded, so we can better help individuals and businesses who interact with the justice system,” said Tara Green, Clay County clerk of court and comptroller and also president of Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, in a news release.
The priorities authorized by the legislation:
• Create more stability by authorizing clerks to carry statewide reserves of up to 16% of their annual budget to help plan for emergencies, such as COVID-19.
• Improve procedures to allow clerks to carry forward certain revenue from year to year and to better manage their budgets.
• Allow clerks to develop payment plan options to encourage timely fulfillment of financial obligations and help reduce driver license suspensions.
• Implement efficiencies to reduce local jury administrative costs.
Clerks’ offices operate on a cash basis, month-to-month, relying on the fines, fees, service charges and court costs they collect to fund public services. Many services and activities have no associated fees or revenue, such as domestic violence injunctions and mental health and indigency cases.
As Florida’s population grows, funding for clerks’ offices decreases because of the instability of revenue generated in a system based on fines and fees.
Clerks are not funded in the General Appropriations Act. Prior to the legislation, they were not allowed to carry statewide reserves to help with emergencies.
With the coronavirus pandemic, clerks’ offices saw significant funding reductions from July-September 2020 that averaged nearly 50%, according to the state clerks and comptrollers group.
With the governor’s signature, the changes take effect Oct. 1.