Circuit and juvenile courts present budgets; judges cite pretrial services, detention impacts and staff needs

Judges and court administrators told the Budget & Public Employees Committee on May 13 that proposed FY26 budgets for the Circuit Court and Juvenile Court reflect personnel increases, rising contract costs and expanded pretrial services required by new court rules and changes in juvenile jurisdiction.

Judge Chris McGraw, presiding judge of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, described the court system’s structure and said department 311 (Circuit Court) is proposed at $16,096,320 — a 9% increase from FY25 — while department 320 (Juvenile Court) is proposed at $23,601,256, a 2.4% increase. Department 321 (treatment court) remained at about $494,000, and the public administrator’s proposed budget rose about 6% from FY25, officials said.

Pretrial services and electronic monitoring: Judges and the court administrator emphasized pretrial services as a key driver of costs. Judge McGraw and Amanda Sodomka, the court administrator, described the pretrial office as a 24/7 unit that screens defendants, provides risk information to judges and connects released defendants with services. Sodomka said department 311’s request adds one pretrial specialist and a facilities maintenance position; the juvenile budget adds a deputy juvenile officer (a trainer) to improve retention and training for roughly 80 deputy juvenile officers.

Electronic monitoring (EM) and monitoring costs rose in the FY26 request. Sodomka said the electronic monitoring line reflects expanding use of monitoring when release is conditioned on supervision; the FY26 EM and monitoring budget was described as more than $1 million, roughly a 20% increase from the prior year. Officials said most defendants who receive monitoring have fees waived and that the court is exploring lower-cost phone-based monitoring alternatives.

Juvenile detention and services: McGraw and Sodomka said juvenile population increases following the state’s "raise the age" changes have expanded detention needs and increased costs for contracted medical, food and interpreter services. Sodomka said the state provides a direct reimbursement to the city — roughly $4.3 million annually — for juvenile salaries to offset some costs.

Public Administrator overview: Sean Rapp, the city’s public administrator, briefed the committee on his office’s duties: serving as administrator of estates without a qualified private fiduciary, providing public guardianships and conservatorships (about 550 public guardianships), and managing some minor and trustee cases. Rapp said the office moved from a fee-based to a county-funded model in recent years and described the office’s role in managing public benefits and placements when appointed by the probate court.

Operational costs and contracted services: Court officials said contract services for pretrial case management, medical services in detention and competency evaluations are rising and that some contract costs were previously covered by grants that have expired. Judge McGraw and staff said they are seeking state and other funding and that the judiciary enacted a 4.5% salary increase for court employees to improve recruitment and retention amid regional salary competition.

Committee follow-up: Aldermen asked for detail on capital needs (courtroom audio/visual modernization), professional services that pay pretrial case management (named contracted partners) and how the juvenile detention facility’s costs are changing. Court staff said they would provide detailed revenue sources and capital project lists to the committee; no final funding decisions were taken at the hearing.