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Red Bank court outlines digitization plan and reports jump in fine collections
Summary
At a Red Bank budget workshop, the municipal court presented a digitization contract, plans to join county CJIS work, and credited more aggressive collection efforts for raising forecasted court revenue from about $65,000 (FY23 actual) to $142,000 (FY25 forecast).
Mr. Granham, presenting the Red Bank Municipal Court budget at a city budget workshop, said the court has a contract to begin digitizing hundreds of boxes of records, plans to pursue integration with the county Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), and is onboarding a collection agency to increase fine and fee recoveries.
The court’s projected general fund revenue from judicial fines and fees rose from roughly $65,000 in FY23 to a FY25 forecast of $142,000, figures Mr. Granham attributed to more persistent follow-up by the court clerk’s office. "Turns out the secret sauce to getting people to pay their court fines and fees is calling them and reminding them," he said.
The court has contracted with RJM to digitize archival records described as several hundred boxes held under the city’s retention schedule; the court also uses software from Tyler Technologies that Mr. Granham said is integrated with Red Bank Police Department records, the district attorney, the sheriff’s office and the county jail. He said the court is "in the queue" to work with Hamilton County IT on CJIS integration, which Mr. Granham characterized as a county-specific system rather than an off-the-shelf product.
On collections, Mr. Granham said the court clerk and deputy court clerk have focused on outreach, rescheduling missed court dates and setting payment plans. He noted the court is "very accommodating" and that staff will work with residents to set up schedules so warrants do not need to be issued. Mr. Granham also said the city plans to partner with Chief Financial Officer Pickle when onboarding an external collection agency.
Court operating costs for the general fund were described as essentially flat: court costs totaled about $191,000 in 2024, the FY25 forecast was $188,000, and the FY26 budget request included $192,000. Mr. Granham also highlighted two staff members — Alicia Donahue (court clerk) and Lehi Heidman (deputy court clerk) — earning municipal court credentials and preparing to lead the digitization rollout.
No formal vote was taken on any of the court items during the workshop. The presentation included requests for continued funding of the digitization contract and ongoing operating expenses; next steps described were implementation planning with county IT for CJIS access and execution of the RJM digitization contract.
Copies of the court’s annual report, budget memos and a new Q&A were said to be posted on the city website’s finance page.
