City reports early gains from ARPA‑funded court pilots; staff asks to fold positions into general fund over three years
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Summary
City staff presented evaluation results for three ARPA‑funded court pilots and proposed phasing ARPA‑funded operations staff into the general fund over FY27–29.
City staff presented evaluation results for three ARPA/CRF‑funded pilots designed to increase court access and reduce downstream penalties for nonpayment or missed appearances.
Ashley Heron, performance and innovation manager, reported that the driver’s license restoration pilot—where a Service Oklahoma hearing officer was embedded in the municipal courthouse—operated for one year and produced about 2,249 reinstatements and roughly 6,300 visitors who received information or next‑steps. Staff presented estimated cost metrics and highlighted reduced wait times for people who otherwise would travel to a Service Oklahoma office.
The court‑advocate pilot, an embedded mental‑health liaison that ran two years, saw about 1,500 participants total and roughly 1,400 resource referrals; staff said 77% of referrals were for housing and that 79% of participants were unhoused. City staff estimated the pilot saved about 2,000 staff hours annually (roughly $80,000 in staff time) by moving social‑service referral work off court supervisors.
The night‑court pilot (a Thursday evening docket limited to simple traffic matters) served about 4,000 defendants across two years and produced faster arraignments and higher appearance rates than daytime dockets; night court also showed a higher rate of recalled warrants. Staff estimated night‑court collections during the pilot totaled about $215,000 (roughly 3% of courthouse revenue during pilot periods).
Deputy Court Administrator Grace Bollinger presented a phased FY27–29 budget request to transition ARPA‑funded court operations positions into the general fund. The FY27 ask would include judicial clerks and a public defender; FY28–29 would add additional clerks, municipal clerks and administrative positions. Staff said they expect to carry remaining CRF funds into FY27 to cover part of the program costs and that full‑year cost estimates are included in the budget packet.
Councilors asked for additional demographic and geographic breakdowns of program participants (age, sex, zip code) to confirm the pilots’ reach and equity impacts. Staff said evaluations for the remaining four ARPA pilots are in progress and will be completed before the FY27 budget submission.
