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Chippewa County urges state to increase circuit court funding; clerk warns rising local costs
Summary
The Chippewa County Board passed a resolution urging Governor Evers and state legislators to increase circuit court appropriations. The county’s clerk of court told supervisors that state contributions have declined and local costs for interpreters, court-appointed attorneys and medical/psychiatric exams are rising.
The Chippewa County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed Resolution 12-25 urging Governor Tony Evers and state legislators to increase the state appropriation for circuit courts in the 2025–27 biennial budget.
A spokesperson identified in the meeting as the Chippewa County Clerk of Court told the board the clerks across Wisconsin have joined an effort through the Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association and the Wisconsin Counties Association to press for an increase in the circuit court cost appropriation. “When it was established, it was kind of more of a fifty‑fifty type of operation, where now the state is only contributing about 12% and the rest is falling onto the county,” the clerk said, describing the shift in funding responsibility.
The clerk listed rising categories of county expense that have driven the request: interpreters, court‑appointed attorneys, guardian ad litems, and medical or psychiatric examinations. The clerk said some counties have seen much larger interpreter costs and that Chippewa County’s interpreter spending was lower comparatively — “I want to think it was $5,000 a year” — while court‑appointed counsel and medical evaluations are the larger drivers of expense.
On legislative outreach, the clerk said clerks and county associations are already contacting legislators, particularly members of the finance committee. The clerk added that Governor Evers had included sums in his biennial budget address and said, verbatim, that the governor “proposed allocating 24,500,000.0 for 2025 and 02/1926, and then 70,000,000 for 2026 and 02/1927,” a figure clerks and counties are using to press for full funding.
Supervisor discussion at the meeting focused on whether the county board should take additional follow-up steps beyond passing the resolution — for example, contacting state legislators directly — and several supervisors encouraged additional outreach to keep the issue prominent while the budget process proceeds. The board voted to approve the resolution; no roll-call tally was recorded in the available transcript.
The resolution directs that a copy be sent to Governor Evers and all Wisconsin state legislators representing Chippewa County.
