Shelby County criminal court clerk pushes pay increases for 61 low-paid staff and requests technology upgrades

Heidi Coombe, Shelby County criminal court clerk, told the county Budget & Finance Committee on April 9 that high staff turnover and falling revenues are undermining court operations and that personnel and technology investments are needed to stabilize operations.

Coombe said the office is the custodian of records for nine criminal courts, holds indictments for misdemeanors and felonies, and stores more than one million pieces of evidence. She described a sharp staff turnover: 70 employees hired from February 2001 to January 2025, of whom only 35 remain — a 50% retention failure for that cohort. Coombe said 70% of current staff earn less than $40,000 (and many make below $35,000), and she asked the committee to fund raises that would move 61 employees up to a $40,000 threshold. She estimated the personnel cost with fringe at about $311,285. The average increase per affected employee was presented as $4,801.

On revenue, Coombe said collections have declined from historical averages of about $3.4 million to around $2.6 million. She described three revenue pressures: denied state reimbursements (she said roughly $200,000 in prior denials that had just been cleared), county invoicing/reimbursement issues and lower bankruptcy recoveries. To increase collections, her office sent letters to thousands of eligible individuals for a settlement program offering 50% lump-sum payments to resolve long-dormant balances and obtain eligibility for expungement.

Coombe proposed technology investments to improve public access and internal productivity. She described a year‑one, cost-share request of $18,000 for a shared "research" module with General Sessions that would let members of the public and self‑represented litigants search case data more broadly. She also requested funds for a court-analytics module to publish metrics from indictment to disposal, and for an automated redaction tool to remove personal data from records; she described these as priorities ahead of exploratory AI applications. Coombe said she and General Sessions would share many of these costs.

Coombe asked for no new capital (CIP) projects for her office in FY26 but requested $132,370 for technology items and an overall FY26 package of $453,655 (personnel, technology, O&M). She said that filling and retaining trained courtroom staff takes time and expense, and that hiring without pay‑level adjustments leads to repeated training costs when employees depart.

What’s next: Commissioners asked for headcount charts and public-facing data; Coombe said upgraded systems and analytics are being rolled out and that she would provide further breakdowns. Commissioners discussed statewide efforts to unify case-management systems and the cost and time it would take; Coombe noted a possible state-led unified system but said it would be expensive and take years.

Ending: Coombe framed the request as an investment in stability and service continuity for courts that handle complex criminal and evidentiary work.