The West Virginia Supreme Court presented its budget request, amounting to $4 million less than five years ago.
Chief Justice Tim Armstead presented the $135.5 million 2021 fiscal year budget request for the court system to the House Finance Committee in Thursday morning’s committee meeting.
“The proposal for this upcoming fiscal year is less than what was proposed in fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019,” Armstead said, later adding. “The new court has worked hard, going through line by line to see where we could make reductions and be more efficient.”
In 2018, the Legislature passed Senate Joint Resolution 3 and voters approved the amendment later that year. The amendment gave the Legislature oversight over the court’s budget. Under the amendment, the Legislature cannot reduce the court’s budget by 15% based off of the court’s base budget from the previous year, without a super majority vote.
Armstead explained that the state Supreme Court’s budget represents the entire judiciary throughout the state, not just the Supreme Court. Circuit Courts and Magistrate Courts make up about half of the court’s budget, with probation making up 20%, court administration 16%, family courts 11%, and the court’s Charleston components 5%.
Two of the biggest line items are personal services and current expenses. Armstead said $10 million was given to the General Revenue Fund through a one-time reduction in current expenses, from $19.9 million to $9.9 million.
About 82.2% of the budget is personnel, which includes judges and all support staff within the court system throughout the state.
Armstead updated legislators on reforms including placing the court’s vehicles under the fleet management system. He said cars are no longer specifically assigned to justices.
Armstead also updated legislators on e-filing progress. Armstead said e-filing is currently in 20 counties and at the end of this year, the court hopes to see e-filing in 33 counties. Armstead said the goal is to have e-filing in all counties by 2022.
