Assistant judge tells House committee counties have tools to fund courthouse repairs, urges reserve planning

Joyce McKeenan, an assistant judge in Orange County and president of the Vermont Association of County Judges, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee on April 9 that counties have statutory and financial tools to pay for courthouse repairs and upgrades and that many counties keep capital reserve accounts to respond to emergencies.

McKeenan said county officials can “keep up to 75% of the county budget in a reserve fund” and that statute also allows counties to levy up to 5% of their equalized grand list. She told the committee counties also may bond for large projects and take commercial loans when needed.

The testimony came as the committee examined how courthouses are funded and maintained after the state unified court operations. McKeenan said the restructuring left some questions about which level of government pays for building maintenance and capital projects and that in practice most day-to-day upkeep remains a county responsibility.

“Everything — snow removal, plumbers, electricians, copier leases — that is all on the county,” McKeenan said. She added that counties have used reserve funds for projects including installing generators and buying adjoining land to create ADA-compliant access.

McKeenan gave county examples: Orange County currently has about $300,000 in its capital reserve fund; Chittenden County’s reserve was described as about $700,000; Windsor County issued a $2,000,000 bond to modernize the Woodstock Courthouse, including HVAC; and Washington County faced roughly $3,000,000 in flood damage in 2023 and used $448,000 from its reserve plus insurance, FEMA funds and an $800,000 commercial bridge loan to remediate the courthouse.

Committee members raised concerns that when the Legislature has funded certain items — for example generators for two courthouses in the current capital budget — other counties might expect state assistance instead of using their reserve funds. McKeenan said she feared that precedent could encourage requests to the state but maintained that “every courthouse needs a generator” given reliance on electronics.

Members discussed requiring courts or the court administrator to consider county capital planning and reserve balances when evaluating requests for state capital dollars. McKeenan said she supports the idea of making county capital plans and reserve funding part of those criteria, and she offered to collect and provide each county’s reserve-balance information to the committee.

Chair Emmons asked McKeenan to send the county reserve balances to the committee assistant, Phil Petty; McKeenan agreed. The committee did not take any formal votes during the exchange.

Why it matters: The committee is weighing how to allocate limited state capital funds and whether to add eligibility criteria that would require counties to show they have a capital plan or reserve balances before receiving state assistance. Lawmakers said the change could steer counties to rely on local reserves and long-term planning rather than one-off state appropriations.

McKeenan told the committee that most assistant judges are mindful of tax impacts on residents and take fiscal stewardship seriously, but that deferred maintenance in some counties — she singled out Essex County as an example where new assistant judges are increasing budgets to address backlog — has led to larger, more expensive fixes later. She recommended annual review of MOUs and capital plans to avoid being “caught with our pants down” by emergency needs.

The committee asked McKeenan to provide the balance of each county’s capital reserve fund and said it may consider statutory changes to the criteria the court administrator uses when deciding whether to include county requests in the state capital budget. The committee did not adopt any new policy at this meeting; members indicated further discussion is likely.