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Court of Appeals requests amended funds for pay-period adjustment, leave payouts and ADA website compliance
Summary
Chief Judge Mercier told the subcommittee the Court of Appeals seeks three pass-through adjustments: to cover a full semimonthly pay period, to pay annual leave conversions and to meet federal ADA website requirements.
Chief Judge Mercier and Chris Walker, the Court of Appeals’ CFO, told the subcommittee the court included three amended requests in the FY26 package to cover payroll timing, leave payouts and web accessibility work.
Mercier said the 5.1.1 request corrects an earlier allocation that covered only part of a semi-monthly pay period; the court is seeking a full pay-period allocation (the request listed in the tracking sheet is $23,840). On 5.1.2, Mercier said the annual leave payout request covers mandatory leave conversion payouts for up to 45 days and that annual totals can vary “as little as $30,000 in a year to as much as a $140,000 a year depending on who leaves.” For 5.1.3, the court is seeking funds to make docketing, e-filing and public-facing pages compliant with federal ADA requirements; the court told the committee it had not received a final compliance deadline but believed 2026 was possible and that planning funding might be needed in 2025 to meet that timeline.
The nut graf: None of the items create new programs; they are intended to ensure accurate payroll funding, meet known leave obligations and prepare to satisfy anticipated federal website accessibility requirements.
Committee members discussed account balances and asked CFO Walker to reconcile personal-services accounts to show whether earlier leave-related allocations remain available. Mercier and Walker said the leave payout amounts are charged to personal services and fluctuate year to year depending on retirements and other separations.
Ending: The committee accepted the explanation and asked staff to follow up with reconciled numbers during full budget review.
