Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2019 Budget Impact Statement
Overview
The Hamilton County General Fund Budget targets has a reduction of 16% from what
has been requested by the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts. This reduction equates to
$2,055,879. The Clerk’s office has requested $12,857,451.
This decrease comes at a time when the Clerk’s office is utilizing funds to drive revenue
for the county and incorporate technology to leverage efficiencies. The Clerk’s office has been
working diligently to reduce expenses since 2017 starting with the reduction of headcount. The
Clerk’s Office has worked to reduce our employee levels to the minimum staffing ratios
required to ensure we can still provide the level of service expected of the office.
The Clerk’s office has worked in good faith with the County utilizing restricted funds to
help add to the general fund over the last two years the Clerk’s office has given back over $3.1
million to the general fund from a depleting restricted fund, which has slowed down a great
deal of the enhancement projects that would have pushed this division into a more efficient
era. The Clerk’s office has also offset some personnel expenses pushing key personnel to a
50:50 split between general fund and restricted fund.
Immediate impact of 16% Budget Reduction
The majority of the Clerk’s office expenses are set around personnel the remaining
expenses are set around equipment, supplies, and materials. In terms of a reduction this would
impact personnel and as mentioned above the Clerk’s office has reduced personnel to the
minimum and any additional reduction would significantly impact the operations of the Clerk’s
office and would alleviate the revenue driving initiatives that have been laid out for 2019 as
well as severely impact the service provided by the Clerk’s office to the public as well as the
courts. The Clerk’s office just instituted a living wage to all personnel so a reduction in wage
across the board is not an option. The Clerk’s office would potentially have to eliminate services
that are not statutorily required such as the mail room and imaging, the only issue with doing
this is that this expense is needed and would just hit the books in another area.
For 2018 the expense break down for the Clerk’s office was as follows:
Personnel: 80% of expenses ($10,060,240.92)
Other Expenditures (materials, etc.): 19% ($2,489,416.63)
Capital Outlay: 1% ($121,401.20)
Conclusion
The Clerk’s office wants to be a team player in terms of helping to alleviate any potential
deficit for the county as a whole, as the Clerk’s office has in the past.
A reduction to the requested budget within the Clerk’s Office will:
Severely reduce the ability to provide adequate service to the public
Lack of care for critical documents
Reduce accessibility of the courts to the general public
Reduce ability to provide service to court rooms
Reduce revenue to the Hamilton County General Fund