Committee Adopts Amendments and Forwards Measure to Transfer Court Facilities to State

The Budget & Finance Committee voted to forward a resolution recommending transfer of responsibilities for specified court facilities to the State of California, adopting last-minute amendments that adjust the annual court facility payments for several properties.

Amy Brown, the city's director of property, said the proposal follows the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, which mandates transfer of court facilities from counties to the state and caps county liability based on an historical average. Brown said the item would transfer portions of the Youth Guidance Center (YGC) campus and parts of the Hall of Justice and approve joint occupancy and memorandum-of-understanding provisions for continued service provision.

Brown presented two amendments: add an additional court facility payment of approximately $28,116 per year for cottages at 375 Woodside Avenue (part of the YGC campus) and reduce the Hall of Justice court-facility payment from $888,331 to $703,105 per year; she said final amounts will be adjusted by an inflation index closest to the transfer date.

Budget analyst staff recommended approval of the amended resolution, noting in the record that, for some facilities, the state will pay the city more for operations and maintenance than the city will pay the state, yielding net positive cash flows in some exchanges. Committee members adopted the amendments and forwarded the amended resolution with a favorable recommendation to the full board.

Next steps: staff will provide updated calculations after the December index is available and the item will be scheduled for full Board consideration.