Falling Court Revenues Are a Concern for City, Township Officials

As the year comes to a close, officials in some of the five communities served by the in Plymouth are concerned they will see lowered — and eventually no — revenue dollars returned to their general funds.

Plymouth Mayor Dan Dwyer, who sits on the steering board that is the liaison to the court, said recently that caseloads and filing fees have fallen because of a loss of population and a reduced number of police officers on the beat. And he's concerned the court will not be able to meet its operating expenses.

"We're keeping an eye on this because of the overall economy," he said. "It's something we're aware of. We want to make sure that everything is in line at the court. Generally, they have been able to reduce staff and make other reductions to make up for falling revenues."

For 2010, the court is expected to send a combined $189,000 back to the municipalities it serves: the city of Plymouth, Plymouth Township, the city of Northville, Northville Township, and Canton Township, according to the court's controller, Pam Avdoulos.

"We're not done with 2010, but we are expected to send less back to the municipalities," she said.

In years past, the court has returned in the neighborhood of $200,000 to $300,000 back to the communities.

Budgets for district courts are essentially set by the governing body of the municipality they serve, but are not meant to be a revenue center for communities.

In multi-community jurisdictions, a commission is set up that is made of members of each municipality to set the budget for adoption by all of the communities. This commission can make adjustments to the budget mid-year, if it is needed.

Chief District Judge Michael Gerou said the court will continue to make the necessary changes to keep the court financially stable, but said it's not often that courts return money to municipalities.

"Since I've been here, we've returned money to the community, but not a lot of courts do," he said. "It's fairly rare. But we've made the decision necessary to compensate for falling caseloads."

In the past three years, caseloads — which generate dollars through filing fees for criminal and civil cases, fines, traffic tickets, and other functions — have fallen off exponentially.

In 2008, new filings were tallied at 42,031. In 2009 there were 38,004, and in 2010, there were 26,554 from January to September, which means there will be a reduction for the third year in a row.

During the same period, revenues went up and then took a dive: the court took in $3.9 million, versus $4.2 million in 2008 and $3.7 million in 2009.

There have also been major reductions on the staff side, said Avdoulos. Since 2005, two full-time clerks that retired were replaced with part-timers, two full-time officers were replaced with part-timers, the magistrate retired and was not replaced, a secretary retired and was not replaced, and two full-time probation officers were replaced by part-timers.

Gerou said the positions were eliminated because of fiscal conditions.

"We recognize that times have changed, he said. "We're working very had to make sure that we work within a budget and that the court runs efficiently."

The dollars returned by the court are not exactly a windfall for the municipalities, but they are used to getting money back into their coffers.

Plymouth Township Supervisor Richard Reaume said the township is concerned about the level of funds coming in from the court, but he recognizes that many factors are in play regarding court revenues.

"There are fewer police officers out there, which is directly tied to revenue," he said. "[Reduced revenues are] in large part a function of what's happening locally — the communities are strapped."

For his part, Gerou said he will continue to submit balanced budgets and make changes that make fiscal sense at the court.

"As long as I've been here we've submitted responsible budgets," he said. "That is going to continue."

Editor's Note: This story was changed to correct the spelling of Plymouth Township Supervisor Richard Reaume. Plymouth Patch regrets the error.