Criminal District Court urges Council to restore jail-alternatives funding, raise juror pay

Chief Judge Tracy Fleming Stavallier told the council that Criminal District Court for Orleans Parish faces a 2026 personnel and operating request of roughly $10.55 million, a $770,000 increase over 2025 driven largely by higher juror pay and contract rates. "Courthouse security is paramount," Stavallier said, and the court asked the council to reallocate previously committed capital funds for jury lounges and building repairs.

Why it matters: Court officials said cuts would reduce the court's capacity to use community-based programs that short-circuit incarceration. "A reduction in the court's budget would not only hinder operations, but also would undermine the court's ability to serve by delaying justice, increasing incarceration, which would result in additional costs," Stavallier warned. The court pointed specifically to pretrial services, the on-site drug testing lab, and domestic-violence monitoring court as programs that provide cheaper, community-based supervision and treatment than jailing people.

What the court requested: The court asked for a restoration of jury lounge and building capital funds, a bump in juror pay from $10 to $25 per day (the court said a survey of other parishes shows $25 is typical), and an increase in sanity-commission hourly rates from $400 to $600 to recruit psychiatrists and psychologists. Stavallier also said the court had added pretrial services directly to its budget and had included $75,000—60,000 for a reentry program previously funded by the state.

Evidence and scale: The court offered activity data to support its claims: its on-site drug lab performed 82,000 tests in 2023, 96,000 in 2024 and 78,000 through Sept. 30 of 2025. Pretrial services produced more than 6,400 public-safety assessments (PSAs) in 2023 and 7,600 in 2024; the court said pretrial programs report 97% appearance rates and a public-safety rate of more than 96% for program participants.

Council questions and context: Council members pressed court staff for line-item detail (Sanity Commission, juror pay and reentry amounts were discussed in the hearing). Stavallier said the mayor's proposed operational reduction to the court totaled about $2.3 million (roughly 20% of the court's operating budget) and described the state reentry grant as a one-year allocation that was not renewed.

Bottom line: Court leaders asked the council to prioritize restoring funds that sustain community-based supervision and monitoring (pretrial and domestic-violence monitoring court including drug testing), saying the alternatives are higher detention costs and reduced access to treatment and monitoring.