For years, the V.I. Supreme Court hasn’t had the budget to "adequately" support its expenses — but as the court’s caseload continues to increase, it’s finally time for senators to hand over the money, Chief Justice Rhys Hodge said Friday.
"I implore you to consider that our budget is not even 1 percent of the overall budget for this territory," Hodge told members of the Senate’s Appropriations and Budget Committee. In its first year, the court received $1.5 million, followed by a $3 million appropriation in fiscal year 2008. Last summer, court officials had requested a $7.2 million budget for fiscal year 2009, but after markup, the court’s overall appropriation stood at $5 million.
The cut made it difficult to hire employees, renovate the court’s offices on St. Croix and outfit its current facility on St. Thomas, among other things. Keeping pace with expenses also means ending the year with a $260,000 shortfall, which officials are trying to stave off by "readjusting our spending," Hodge added later.
With only an anticipated $30,000 in federal funds coming in for the development of a five-year strategic plan, the court is asking for $7.3 million from the General Fund in FY 2010. Hodge called that a "bare bones" budget that puts about $4.27 million toward personnel costs (including court staff, justices, court reporters and attorneys) and another $3 million toward operations, including $606,750 for the installation of a new appellate case management system and $650,000 for upgrades to the building on St. Croix.
In light of the government’s projected FY 2010 budget shortfall, the court will defer filling three "critical" positions: general legal counsel, a reporter of decisions and a bar disciplinary counsel, Hodge said. The court is trying to fill 22 other vacancies, but in many cases, the efforts have proven unsuccessful because there’s not enough money to attract "qualified" employees, he explained.
Vacant positions include a chief financial officer, building and grounds maintenance worker, human resource manager and procurement clerk.
The situation’s not any better over at the V.I. Superior Court, whose FY 2009 appropriation was slashed from a little more than $34 million to about $32.3 million after the governor’s revised budget bill was signed into law. The $2 million drop didn’t stop the creation of a new magistrate division, but other costs were pared down to make up the difference, said Superior Court Presiding Judge Darryl Dean Donohue Sr.
Among the dropped costs was $1.8 million in outstanding retroactive wage payments, which is also not factored into the FY 2010 budget request.
"We backed off certain training initiatives and delayed filling certain positions at the outset to save money," he explained. "We had to marshal our funds and narrow down who we would bring on right away at the magistrate court — which was basically the magistrates and their secretaries."
Bringing on additional employees to staff the new division could wait until renovations to a satellite location on St. Thomas and existing facilities at the R.H. Amphlett Leader Justice Complex on St. Croix are complete, he added. Since the division’s implementation date was pushed back, FY 2009 expenses came in lower than expected, putting operational expenses — such as paying for marshals, security officers, equipment and supplies — on the balance sheet only recently.
However, maintaining the magistrate division now means that the court must get its full $35.2 million FY 2010 budget request, Donohue said.
"While the court was able to implement its new magistrate division in spite of budgetary cuts, maintaining operations must now be paramount," he stressed to senators. The court is also looking at increasing its fees across the board to bring in more revenue and make up for the $3.4 million in fees outstanding, officials said.
After "refining" the numbers, the court’s FY 2010 request ended up being $4.6 million less than its FY 2009 request. Of that amount, $19.7 million would go toward salaries for 362 positions. The court is trying to fill about 84 vacancies this year, Donohue said. The fringe benefits category tops off at $6.4 million, while capital outlays are projected at $3.3 million, utilities at almost $1.8 million and supplies at $350,000. The other services and charges category — which includes everything from travel expenses to rent — totals roughly $3.5 million.
Donohue said priority funding areas include: increasing jury costs (currently projected at $400,000); upgrades to the court’s case management system ($3 million over two years); updates to the court’s website; and expanding its facilities in both districts.
Earlier in the meeting, Hodge also requested a $340,044 budget for the V.I. Judicial Council, of which he is the chairman. The council’s FY 2009 budget was $300,000. The 13 percent jump will be put toward "normal" salary increases for employees, provisions for summer interns, travel expenses, office supplies and a court reporter.
It is recommended in the FY 2010 executive budget submittal that $62.9 million be split up between the judicial and legislative branches.
Present during the first half of the hearing were Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Wayne James, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly, Sammuel Sanes and Patrick Sprauve.
