Nevada Judiciary

At the end of fiscal year 2008, the Nevada Supreme Court returned $1,993,514 to the State General Fund, which is 27.4 percent of the state funding that was targeted by Governor Jim Gibbons for cuts to ease the state's budget shortfall.

The amount was more than five times the 4.5 percent reduction being sought by the Governor for the fiscal year.

The Supreme Court was budgeted for $21,110,825 in General Fund dollars for the year ending June 30, 2008, but held expenditures to $19,117,311.

Of the expenditures, however, $13,729,568 was for statutory set salaries for the Justices and District Court Judges and could not be reduced under the Constitution.

That left just over $7.3 million in General Fund dollars that were subject to the Governor’,s cutback request. The $1,993,514 returned to the General Fund amounted to 27.4 percent of the subject funds. If the entire court budget, including exempt salaries, is considered, the Court still reverted 9.44 percent to the General Fund.

Total expenditures for the Supreme Court for FY 08 were $38,972,578, but only 49 percent came from the General Fund. The remaining expenditures were funded by administrative assessments on misdemeanor and traffic cases, fees and grants.

Of the $1.99 million reverted, $970,884 is a direct result of budget reductions. The Court additionally returned $1,022,630 that was primarily the result of increased collections of administrative assessments beyond what was expected. In essence, the Court spent the extra administrative assessments and reverted an equal amount of General Fund dollars back to the state.

The extra administrative assessments were the result of improved collection techniques primarily involving new technology at the Justice and Municipal Courts. The new technology made it easier for the public to pay their fines and fees and also made it easier for trial courts to track court ordered fines and fees.

“,The Supreme Court has gone beyond what we and most state agencies have been asked to do,”, said Justice James Hardesty. “,The Judiciary is a careful steward of its funds, and a willing partner with the Executive and Legislative Branches.”,

“,The Supreme Court has been successful in conserving public resources,”, said Chief Justice Mark Gibbons. “,And we have managed to conserve without major adverse impacts on court operations.”,

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 pay for less than half (49%) of the court’,s expenditures. Total state General Funds appropriated to the Supreme Court amounts to just 0.63 percent of the entire state budget.