By Associated Press
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. called on lawmakers Friday to increase the state judicial system's budget by about $62 million a year to pay for "critical" initiatives, including a move to raise base pay for court workers and to replace an outdated computer system at risk of failure.
Minton made his pitch on the same day that State Budget Director Mary Lassiter released a grim monthly revenue report.
"We are aware of the tough decisions that you as legislators will be called upon to make in the 2012 session about the state budget," Minton told members of the Joint Interim Committee on Judiciary. "But the judicial branch can no longer postpone submitting several critical budget requests."
Lassiter reported a 2.8 percent decline in General Fund receipts for November, largely because of a drop in individual income tax and property tax collections. Total revenue for the month was just short of $729 million, compared to about $750 million in November 2010.
Lassiter said revenue from individual income taxes fell 5.5 percent in November while property tax collections declined 5.9 percent. Slight increases in receipts from the sales tax, coal severance tax, corporate income tax and the cigarette tax weren't enough to offset the losses.
One bright spot was in Road Fund receipts, which increased by 5.7 percent to $123.5 million for the month with revenue rolling in from the state's motor fuels tax.
In a nearly two-hour presentation to lawmakers, Minton said salaries of judicial branch employees need to be brought in line with their higher-paid peers in the executive and legislative branches to cut down on turnover. His proposal was for $11.9 million in the next fiscal year to boost wages.
"Our ability to attract and maintain top-level talent, particularly in the non-elected positions, has become compromised as the judicial branch falls farther and farther behind in the entry-level salaries," Minton said. "My goal would be the ability for us to pay our workforce on a scale that is competitive with the rest of state government."
Minton also requested funding to hire 25 additional pretrial officers to handle a skyrocketing caseload at a cost of $2.1 million per year.
As chief justice, Minton has administrative oversight of the entire state court system, and is responsible for delivering the budget request to lawmakers. He said the centerpiece of his request this year is the computer system upgrade, which would be done in three phases. The first would cost about $28.1 million and be bonded over 10 years with annual payments of about $2.2 million.
"This is the first time the judicial branch has requested funding for an IT project of this magnitude," he said. "Our current case management system is based on technology that is nearly 25 years old" and it's "put together with duct tape and Band-Aids."
"The system still works and we still maintain it, but no one knows how long our Band-Aid approach will function," he said.
Minton also requested approval for new courthouses in Henry and Nicholas counties at a cost of about $2 million. If approved, lawmakers wouldn't have to budget the money until 2014.
Minton and his predecessor, former Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, have pressed to replace aging courthouses across the state.