To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: Budget Amendment for Adjustments Between Trial Court Programs and Conflict Defense Services
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE Budget Amendment No. BDA-26-00644 authorizing the transfer of $555,000 in appropriations from the Trial Court Programs (0202) to Conflict Defense Services (0248) to align with actual expenditures as part of FY2025-26 year-end balancing.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This action will transfer appropriations between Trial Court Programs and Conflict Defense Services within the General Fund for FY2025-26. This action does not increase total County expenditures or net County cost, but rather reallocates existing, already budgeted General Fund appropriations to ensure that expenditures are properly aligned with actual year-end requirements.
BACKGROUND:
The County Administrator’s Office administers various budget units within the General Fund to support local justice services. Both Trial Court Programs (Dept 0202, Agency 20) and Conflict Defense Services (0248, Agency 22) budgets include general-purpose revenue allocations.
Over the past several years, fluctuating revenue streams supporting Trial Court Programs have required the County to conservatively allocate sufficient resources when developing these budgets. The fluctuations are primarily due to the volatility of fees, fines and forfeitures, legislative changes in 2021 and 2022 that repealed certain criminal justice fines and fees, and recent State backfill funding that has mitigated only a portion of the losses. Fiscal Year 2025-26 Trial Court Programs expenditures have not required the use of the budgeted general-purpose revenue cushion.
On the other hand, expenditures for conflicts defense services have been trending upward over the past several years. Increased conflicts panel attorney defense services during FY 2025-26 were primarily driven by increasing criminal case filings, including death penalty/life without parole cases, Racial Justice Act cases, and a greater volume of criminal co-defendants cases. The County contracts with Independent Counsel, Inc. for conflicts defense services. While the annual contract payment limit is $6,000,000, the County historically budgets $5,000,000 due to prior years’ expenditure trends. Actual FY 2025-26 expenditures for conflicts defense services have exceeded the original budget of $5,000,000 by approximately $520,000. Approval of the budget amendment will transfer a surplus of general-purpose revenue from Trial Court Programs to cover the increasing costs of conflict defense services.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If unapproved, appropriations and will not be properly reflected in the FY2025-26 budget.