Nevada Judiciary

Equivalent to 13% of Court’,s Biennial Budget

The Nevada Supreme Court once again is returning millions of dollars in court funds –, equivalent to 13 percent of the biennial General Fund appropriation –, to the state coffers to help ease Nevada’,s financial crisis.

Equivalent to 13% of Court’,s Biennial Budget

The Nevada Supreme Court once again is returning millions of dollars in court funds –, equivalent to 13 percent of the biennial General Fund appropriation –, to the state coffers to help ease Nevada’,s financial crisis.

The percentage is more than double the nearly 6 percent reductions in the budgets of most governmental entities that Governor Jim Gibbons is seeking to deal with the state’,s shortfall.

Justice James Hardesty told the Legislature’,s Interim Finance Committee on June 26 that the Supreme Court will return more than $2.3 million over the biennium –, about $1.9 million at the end of Fiscal Year 2008 and the remainder at the end of Fiscal Year 2009.

“,The Judiciary is a careful steward of its funds, and a willing partner with the Executive and Legislative Branches,”, said Justice Hardesty. “,We are going beyond what we and most state agencies are being asked to do.”,

“,The Supreme Court has been doing what it can to conserve public resources,”, said Chief Justice Mark Gibbons. “,We are sensitive to the state’,s economic situation, but we also have an obligation to ensure that the Judiciary can fulfill its role to provide fair and impartial justice in a timely manner.”,

The return of court funds to the state will not affect court operations. Some of the money to be returned comes from administrative assessments on misdemeanor and traffic cases that are in excess of what was budgeted. Other monies are a result of expenditure reductions.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has returned money to the state. At the end of Fiscal Year 2007, the Supreme Court returned more than $2.5 million to the General Fund –, an amount equal to 12 percent of the Judiciary’,s $20.5 million General Fund allocation. That amounted to more than twice the reduction the governor had sought.

Funding for the Supreme Court is a combination of State General Funds and administrative assessments. General Funds account for about 55 percent of the court budget. The total state funding for the Judicial Branch amounts to less than 1 percent of the state budget.

Most General Fund dollars go to pay the salaries of the Supreme Court Justices and District Court Judges, which are set by statute.

At the Interim Finance Committee meeting, legislators released nearly $620,000 to the Supreme Court to fund a new case management system.