Criminal District Court 2027 Budget
At a glance
Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.
- What: the proposed 2027 city funding for Criminal District Court, as the court loses state support and shrinks from 12 sections to 9.
- Where it stands: the court projects a deficit of about $4.29 million, has no cash on hand left (more than $3 million was used last year), and says the city's roughly $6.1 million covers about 60 percent of a $10 million-plus need. The council has not decided; the budget chair told the judges the council cannot supply $4 million and asked for a minimum figure.
- Why: state Supreme Court funding of about $4.2 to $4.5 million ends June 30, 2027, and the consolidated Judicial Expense Fund under the merged clerk's office has no surplus to send. The legislature did not require the clerk to fund criminal court.
- Next: the court owes the council a reassessed minimum budget, a breakout of the $460,000 capital line (a $350,000 domestic violence build-out the chair suggested pausing) and the pass-through total for the adult learning center; the court is still waiting on an accounting meeting with the clerk. Council President Morrell said the administration is discussing a legislative fix.
- Mandated programs at risk: jury commission, pretrial services, domestic violence monitoring, sanity commission and indigent transcripts.
- Key people: JP Morrell, Matthew Willard, Brandy DeLarge.
Sources
Discussion time
About 43 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-21 - City Council Budget Hearings | 43 |
Log
- 2026-10-21 - City Council Budget Hearings - Budget presentation and questions: $4,289,978 deficit, loss of state funding after June 30, 2027, three sections eliminated (about $1.1 million already removed), capital and pass-through line items, and the clerk's role in funding the court.