DeKalb Juvenile Court asks commissioners for treatment funding, tech and pay fixes

DeKalb County Juvenile Court Chief Judge Tamika Murray asked the Board of Commissioners’ Finance, Audit and Budget Committee on Feb. 13 for new county funding to cover treatment services, information-technology staff, pay adjustments and equipment.

Murray told commissioners the court is requesting $100,000 for treatment services, $75,318 for in-grade salary adjustments, $100,000 for tuition reimbursement and $93,000 for a computer refresh, and she also asked the county to add one enterprise technician (a grade 15 position) to support court technology.

The request for $100,000 in treatment funds is “a high priority,” Murray said, noting 95.99 percent of the court’s treatment spending is typically grant-funded and that state and federal support has fallen. She said the money would pay for individual and group counseling, family therapy and services tied to the court’s accountability courts, and that the $100,000 would allow the court to serve at least 200 youth. “These are all our children — we will profit from or pay for what they become,” Murray said.

Murray said the juvenile court now has 85 employees and one IT professional. The enterprise technician request is intended to add capacity while that lone IT staff member was on family medical leave. Commissioners and court staff said HR lists the new position as grade 15 with an estimated salary around $70,000.

On pay adjustments, Murray described remaining inequities across classifications and asked for $75,318 to raise pay for roughly 25 employees. She provided a divisional breakdown in committee documents: about $29,000 for judicial staff, $7,000 for court administration, $7,000 for intake, $16,317 for probation (where many staff have post-certification), $5,000 for the clerk’s office and $11,000 for grants and programs. Murray said the average adjustment would be about $2,500 per affected employee and the largest single requested bump would be about $5,000.

Murray also requested $100,000 in tuition reimbursement for staff seeking degrees, certifications and continuing education — including child welfare law specialist training and post-certification for probation officers. She said the court had a small tuition benefit last year (about $4,000) but that funding was not recommended in the current CEO budget.

During Q&A, commissioners asked whether the treatment funds covered mental-health and substance-use services; Murray said they would include both and emphasized the impact of recent state funding reductions, including a roughly $75,000 loss in state support for accountability courts since last year. Commissioners also confirmed that ankle-monitor costs shown in the court’s packet were already included in the budget and were not part of this request.

The presentation concluded with Murray thanking the committee and reiterating the court’s aim to reduce recidivism and better support youth and families.

No formal action was taken at the Feb. 13 meeting; the item was presented as budget requests for committee consideration during upcoming budget work sessions.