The Florida Senate

28.36  Budget review and approval procedure.--There is established a budget procedure for the court-related functions of the clerks of the court.

(1)  For the period July 1, 2004, through September 30, 2004, and for each county fiscal year ending September 30 thereafter, each clerk of the court shall prepare a budget relating solely to the performance of the court-related functions.

(2)  Each proposed budget shall conform to the following requirements:

(a)  On May 1, 2004, for the fiscal period of July 1, 2004, through September 30, 2004, and on or before August 1 for each fiscal year thereafter, the proposed budget shall be prepared, summarized, and submitted by the clerk in each county to the Clerk of Court Operations Conference in the manner and form prescribed by the conference. The proposed budget must provide detailed information on the anticipated revenues available and expenditures necessary for the performance of the court-related functions of the clerk's office for the county fiscal year beginning the following October 1.

(b)  The proposed budget must be balanced, such that the total of the estimated revenues available must equal or exceed the total of the anticipated expenditures. These revenues include the following: cash balances brought forward from the prior fiscal period; supplemental revenue that may be requested pursuant to subsection (3); and the contingency reserve authorized in paragraph (c). The anticipated expenditures must be itemized as required by the Clerk of Court Operations Conference.

(c)  The proposed budget may include a contingency reserve not to exceed 10 percent of the total budget.

(3)  If a clerk of the court estimates that available revenues are insufficient to meet the anticipated expenditures for the court-related functions performed by his or her office, the clerk must report the budget deficit to the Clerk of Court Operations Conference in the manner and form prescribed by the conference. The conference shall determine whether the clerk is meeting his or her performance standards for the current year relating to fiscal management, efficient operations, and the effective collection of fines, fees, service charges, and costs.

(a)  If the conference determines that a clerk is meeting his or her performance standards for fiscal management; efficient operations; and effective collection of fines, fees, service charges, and costs; and a deficit is projected, that clerk shall increase all fines, fees, service charges, and costs to the maximum amounts specified by law or the amount necessary to resolve the deficit, whichever is less. If, after increasing such fines, fees, service charges, and costs, a budget deficit is still projected, the conference shall certify a deficit and notify the Department of Revenue that that clerk is authorized to retain revenues, in an amount necessary to fully fund the projected deficit, which he or she would otherwise be required to remit to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Department of Revenue Clerks of the Court Trust Fund pursuant to s. 28.37 If a budget deficit is projected after retaining all of the collections from court-related fines, fees, service charges, and costs, the conference shall certify the deficit amount to the Chief Financial Officer. An amount equal to the deficit is hereby appropriated each year from the Department of Revenue Clerks of the Court Trust Fund, without further legislative action, period after period, until altered or revoked by the Legislature. The Department of Revenue is directed to make a monthly distribution of equal amounts to each clerk certified to have a deficit until the Clerk of Court Operations Conference certifies a different amount to be distributed.

(b)  The Clerk of Court Operations Conference shall notify the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives prior to taking actions specified in this subsection. The notification shall include a certification by the conference that all of the conditions in this subsection have been met.

(4)  The Clerk of Court Operations Conference must approve the court-related budget for each clerk in the state, and shall certify to the Legislature by October 15 of each year, the proposed budget amount approved for each clerk's budget; the revenue projection supporting each clerk's budget; each clerk who must retain some or all of the state's share of fines, fees, service charges, and costs; the amount to be paid from the Department of Revenue Clerks of the Court Trust Fund to each clerk; and the performance measures and standards approved by the conference for each clerk.

(5)(a)  For the county fiscal year October 1, 2004, through September 30, 2005, the maximum annual budget amount that may be authorized by the Clerk of Court Operations Conference for each clerk may not exceed 103 percent of the clerk's actual expenditures for the prior county fiscal year for court-related functions that are required by law effective July 1, 2004. The conference shall use the clerk's actual expenditures for the prior county fiscal year for court-related functions as reported by the Chief Financial Officer based on the county financial reporting required under s. 218.32

(b)  For the county fiscal year 2005-2006, the maximum budget amount that may be authorized by the conference for each clerk budget shall be the approved budget for county fiscal year 2004-2005 adjusted by the projected percentage change in revenue between the county fiscal years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.

(c)  For the county fiscal years 2006-2007 and thereafter, the maximum budget amount that may be authorized by the conference for each clerk shall be established by first rebasing the prior fiscal year budget to reflect the actual percentage change in the prior fiscal year revenue and then adjusting the rebased prior fiscal year budget by the projected percentage change in revenue for the proposed budget year. The rebasing calculations and maximum annual budget calculations shall be as follows:

1.  For county fiscal year 2006-2007, the approved budget for county fiscal year 2004-2005 shall be adjusted for the actual percentage change in revenue between the two 12-month periods ending June 30, 2005, and June 30, 2006. This result is the rebased budget for the county fiscal year 2005-2006. Then the rebased budget for the county fiscal year 2005-2006 shall be adjusted by the projected percentage change in revenue between the county fiscal years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. This result shall be the maximum annual budget amount that may be authorized by the conference for each clerk for the county fiscal year 2006-2007.

2.  For county fiscal year 2007-2008, the rebased budget for county fiscal year 2005-2006 shall be adjusted for the actual percentage change in revenue between the two 12-month periods ending June 30, 2006, and June 30, 2007. This result is the rebased budget for the county fiscal year 2006-2007. The rebased budget for county fiscal year 2006-2007 shall be adjusted by the projected percentage change in revenue between the county fiscal years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. This result shall be the maximum annual budget amount that may be authorized by the conference for each clerk budget for county fiscal year 2007-2008.

3.  For county fiscal years 2008-2009 and thereafter, the maximum budget amount that may be authorized by the conference for each clerk budget shall be calculated as the rebased budget for the prior county fiscal year adjusted by the projected percentage change in revenues between the prior county fiscal year and the county fiscal year for which the maximum budget amount is being authorized. The rebased budget for the prior county fiscal year shall always be calculated by adjusting the rebased budget for the year preceding the prior county fiscal year by the actual percentage change in revenues between the 12-month period ending June 30 of the year preceding the prior county fiscal year and the 12-month period ending June 30 of the prior county fiscal year.

(6)  The Clerk of Court Operations Conference may submit proposed legislation to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than November 1 in any year for approval of clerk budget request amounts exceeding the restrictions in this section for the following October 1. If proposed legislation is recommended, the conference shall also submit supporting justification with sufficient detail to identify the specific proposed expenditures that would cause the limitations to be exceeded for each affected clerk and the estimated fiscal impact on state revenues.

History.--s. 37, ch. 2003-402.