Judiciary asks lawmakers to approve FY25 budget adjustments for courthouse accessibility, security and IT shortfalls

The state judiciary asked lawmakers during a legislative committee meeting to approve a set of budget adjustments for fiscal 2025 that would shift existing appropriations and add funding to cover courthouse security, a sheriff deputies cost-of-living adjustment and a growing information-technology shortfall.

The requests include using $50,000 from a design appropriation for the Essex courthouse connector to install an Americans with Disabilities Act–accessible bathroom in an adjacent meeting house so it can house juror draws; shifting $800,000 from an HVAC appropriation toward security and network rewiring in county courthouses; funding about $388,000 to cover a 3.7% cost-of-living increase negotiated for contracted sheriff deputies; and additional, unspecified general-fund support to cover the shortfall in the Court Technology Fund that pays for ongoing software licenses, cybersecurity and network maintenance.

Greg Mosley, chief of finance and administration for the judiciary, told the committee the Essex connector allocation of $300,000 was originally for planning and design and that the $50,000 shift would let the judiciary “put in a bathroom in this meeting house” so jurors could assemble much closer to the courthouse. Mosley said the county owns both buildings and characterized the transfer request as “essentially a 0 sum request,” meaning the money would stay within courthouse-related capital projects but be used for construction rather than planning.

Mosley said the HVAC program received a $5.7 million appropriation during COVID to upgrade county courthouse HVAC systems. That work is “almost winding down,” he said, and the judiciary proposes shifting roughly $800,000 of remaining funds to badge-swipe security upgrades and to rewire aging network infrastructure in county courthouses. The judiciary’s presentation noted upgrades already completed in 12 courthouses and said some roofing and finishing work remains in specific locations.

On courthouse security, Mosley described the judiciary’s security model as a mix of county sheriff deputies, about 25 state security officers and contracted private security. He said the request for a cost-of-living adjustment reflects an agreement with sheriffs to mirror the roughly 3.7% increase state employees received; Mosley stated, “it cost us $388,000,” and said the increase was included in the judiciary’s BAA request. He also described 11 state security positions tied to the broader security effort: five are filled, two are in recruitment and three remain unfilled pending approval of funds discussed in the session.

Marcia Schells, chief technology innovation officer for the judiciary, summarized the Court Technology Fund’s purpose (established in 2007) and explained why the judiciary now needs ongoing general-fund support. She said the fund historically collected between $1.6 million and $1.9 million a year from civil-violation surcharges and similar fees but has fallen to about $750,000 annually because changes in collectability and policy made many fees harder to collect. “This picture really tells the story,” Schells said, pointing to slides that showed revenue declining while IT operating costs rose.

Schells walked the committee through one-time investments the judiciary made using capital and pandemic funds: replacing a legacy case-management system with Tyler Technologies’ Odyssey (now branded Enterprise Justice), installing remote-hearing and mobile technology during the pandemic, and upgrading network cabling and courtroom audio systems. She said the judiciary also implemented an independent IT network separate from the Agency of Digital Services and that, while that step reduced costs, it did not eliminate the structural gap between recurring IT costs (software licensing, cybersecurity and maintenance) and the Court Technology Fund’s revenue.

Mosley and Schells said the judiciary previously requested about $2.5 million (last year) to close the gap; they noted that the judiciary received $750,000 from a contingent year-end surplus but that an ongoing replacement of that $750,000 would be roughly $1.2 million in FY26 plus normal inflation. The current Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) request was presented as covering FY25 shortfalls but the exact BAA amount for IT operating support was not specified in the presentation.

Committee members asked for clarifications on why certain reversions were included in the governor’s recommended adjustment total but not itemized in the distributed spreadsheet; Mosley said the reversions were “baked into the bottom line” of the governor’s figures and could not be readily broken out without looking at the statutory exhibits. Senator Sarah Watson and other committee members pressed on whether the sheriff-deputy increase is intended to be ongoing and whether positions would become state employees; Mosley said the 11 positions are state positions and that the COLA for contracted deputies is intended to be an ongoing element in future base budgets.

No formal vote was taken during the presentation. Judiciary officials said they had submitted their FY26 budget with an ongoing COLA for deputies and that they would learn in coming days whether the capital request for the Essex connector remains in the governor’s capital proposal.

The judiciary’s materials distributed to the committee included a memo and PowerPoint slides showing the tech fund revenue decline, the one-time projects that used capital and pandemic dollars (case management replacement, remote hearing tech, cabling and audio upgrades) and a summary table of the four items in the BAA request. Officials asked the committee to provide legislative intent language where necessary to permit using design appropriations for limited construction work tied directly to the courthouse access problem.

If lawmakers approve the adjustments, the judiciary plans to install an ADA bathroom in the adjacent meeting house to reduce juror movement across the town commons, reallocate remaining HVAC funds for security and wiring upgrades in courthouse buildings, cover the negotiated COLA for sheriff deputies this fiscal year and provide supplemental funding to stabilize the Court Technology Fund for ongoing licensing, cybersecurity and maintenance costs.