CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s court system is asking for $160,244,954 for the coming fiscal year, an amount that reflects increased costs — but that also might require more.
Last year, the court system’s budget request was about $154 million.
“We have, I believe, right-sized our budget over the last few years and accurately represent what it costs to run our court system throughout the state,” Chief Justice Tim Armstead told members of the House Finance Committee on Monday.
Although the court system is a separate branch of government, the chief justice annually presents a budget request to the Legislature. The presentation includes a budget request for all levels of the state’s court system, from the Supreme Court to magistrate courts. The past couple of years, that has reflected the addition of the new Intermediate Court of Appeals.
As with other government entities, the cost of expenses like pay and insurance for personnel continues to go up.
Armstead told delegates that when the court system presented its budget request last year, representatives were not aware that costs for the Public Employees Insurance Agency would be going up. The employer share for the court system, he said, amounted to almost $2.5 million.
He said the court system managed to cover that cost, but said it does account for an ongoing expense.
“So the $2.4 million there is to address the increase in the employer’s share of PEIA,” he said of the budget request. “This does not include any additional amount for if there is an increase in PEIA, which I know is being discussed.”
Armstead also described a request for an additional $2,067,000 resulting from judicial realignment and $620,000 for eight new probation positions.
There is an estimated $379,000 increase for costs to the judicial retirement system, he said.
Delegate John Hardy, the vice chairman of the House Finance Committee, asked about some recent, significant jumps in the court system’s costs — some associated with the addition of the intermediate court of appeals. He wondered if that trend would continue or if the costs would level out.
“So could we say that this is probably typically going to be a trend, or do you think that this budget will level out at any point in time? Are we going to see somewhere around $5 million jumps per year because of pay increases, additional costs for PEIA, all the different costs that it takes to run the courts?” asked hardy, R-Berkeley.
Armstead said that’s difficult to answer but suggested future costs could level off somewhat.
He noted that there are expense factors up ahead. One is the rollout of the e-filing system to all 55 counties, allowing electronic filing for court documents. Although that could prove more efficient for court users, there could be expenses for the court system.
And Armstead noted that although the governor has called for an average 5% pay increase for state employers and educators, the court system’s budget request doesn’t yet reflect that.
“So that would be something we would need to have added to us,” Armstead. “And if it is a $2,900 raise, which is what’s been discussed, that would be roughly $4.2 million.
“Let me clarify, that is not for judges; judges would not receive that, but staff would. I just want to point out that is not in this current budget.”
