Lake Forest Park’s City Council adopted an ordinance amending the 2025–26 biennial budget and approved changes to municipal court staffing after court officials described a sharp rise in filings tied to expanded automated enforcement.

Finance Director Lindsey Vaughn presented the mid-biennial budget changes, which add a climate coordinator (funded by the solid waste service tax), a human-resources specialist and adjustments for emergency-management (NEMCO) and senior services. The budget amendment also includes workspace reconfiguration estimated at about $43,000 to accommodate added staff.

Judge Grant and Court Administrator Julie Espinosa told the council the court’s workload has outpaced prior projections since 24/7 photo enforcement expanded. Espinosa said current processing shows roughly 4,260 citations a month for filing and processing tasks, with tens of thousands of declarations of nonresponsibility filed to date; clerks are using overtime and the court is struggling to keep up with administrative hearings and written-ruling backlogs.

To address operational strain, the council accepted a revised FTE court structure (creating a senior judicial specialist and a judicial specialist classification) and approved lowering the staffing-trigger threshold that prompts additional hires from 5,000 citations a month to 4,000, consistent with budgeted escalators. Administrators said budgeted escalators provide hiring authority up to approved limits; council required administration to return if implementation needs additional FTEs or leased space beyond those budgeted levels.

On funding, councilmembers debated two options for covering $1,547,603 in additional spending. After discussion and amendment, council adopted Ordinance 25-13-11 selecting option A, which sources the funds from Fund 001 (the general fund). The ordinance passed with unanimous voice vote.

What’s next: administration will implement the revised court structure, begin hiring within approved FTE parameters, and report back to council with any request for additional budget or space if workload projections escalate further.