Some Relief for the Courts

A long-simmering battle between Orange County’s judges and the Board of Supervisors seems to be over, thankfully, with a big assist from the state.

Orange County’s judges long have contended they needed more money to run the courts, where workloads have increased along with population and have outstripped budgets. But the supervisors, feeling short of cash, balked.

In April the county’s six presiding judges filed an unprecedented civil complaint, saying they needed $13 million to continue operations for several months and $10 million more for capital improvements and technology upgrades. The supervisors allowed only $4.5 million more for operations.

Eventually the state did what it should have done much earlier, agreeing to increase its share of funding for the courts and thus relieving some of the burden on counties. Courts are a state function, and Sacramento could have reduced conflict had it been more willing to share the burden. Instead, the counties, which administer the courts on behalf of the state, were stuck with large bills.

Supervisors William G. Steiner and Thomas W. Wilson did what they could to negotiate a settlement with the judges. Last week the Board of Supervisors approved spending nearly $3 million more on the courts and authorized 30 new court administrative positions and 19 positions for marshals, who provide security for the courts. Those new slots have not been funded yet, however.

The additional spending does not take care of the need for repairs and improvements, including a new jury assembly room for the main courthouse in Santa Ana. But the new state court funding bill passed earlier in the year might provide money for that project and others.

Sacramento should realize what happens locally when money is taken away, not just in court funding but other arenas as well. So-called unfunded mandates, under which federal or state governments order localities to take action but do not provide the needed money, set off frantic local scrambles to rejigger budgets.

With Washington and Sacramento reporting fiscal blue skies this year, it’s time to provide more money for cities and counties to carry out mandates or at least to refrain from raiding local funding sources.