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Board weighs lowering grand jury stipend to $20 a day, sets $350 monthly cap
Summary
After extended discussion with grand jury members, staff recommended reducing the daily stipend to $20 and adding a $350 monthly cap; jurors warned cuts could hurt recruitment and workload coverage, and the board directed staff to return with implementation details.
County staff proposed changing grand jury compensation to $20 per day with a monthly cap of $350 and continued mileage reimbursement, citing a review of comparable counties that found many pay near the statutory minimum. Veronica Mello, administrative analyst, said the change would bring Kings County more in line with peers and that the FY 2026–27 impact was estimated at about $125,000.
A grand jury representative (identified in the record as Mr. Wong) outlined the duties and time commitment of jurors: 19 members who often serve on multiple committees and attend many meetings over a year. "The number of average days that we made in a month is right around 20 days," he said, noting the stipend previously increased to $25 per day effective July 1, 2024 but that members also incur mileage and other out-of-pocket costs.
Supervisors probed the causes of a $32,430 overage in the previous fiscal year and were told most of it derived from the jury-and-witness account (mileage and meeting reimbursements) rather than the daily stipend alone. Several supervisors expressed concern that reducing the stipend and adding a cap could make recruitment harder in rural areas and could limit which jurors could attend evening meetings without financial hardship.
Grand jury members in the room proposed internal cost reductions — including doing training in-house to save roughly $5,000 — and one representative offered a proposed 20% reduction of a specific account line while asking the board not to impose a monthly cap that might limit participation. Board members and staff discussed monitoring and reporting mechanisms to track usage against any cap if adopted.
The board considered motions to adopt staff’s recommendation with a $350 monthly cap and also discussed altering payment timing (quarterly rather than monthly). The board directed staff to adopt a resolution establishing the daily stipend at $20 per day, not to exceed $350 per calendar month, and to return with specifics on administration of the cap, monitoring procedures and the timing of payments.
