Department: District Clerk
Department Head/Elected Official: Marilyn Burgess
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for approval to transfer the unclaimed juror payments from the General Fund 1000, Department 202 to the District Clerk’s Office, Department 550 as an offset to the Fees and Services Petit Jury Expense Account.
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Background and Discussion:
The District Clerk’s Office has the responsibility to summon jurors and under Government Code Chapter 61, Sec. 61.001 Reimbursement of Expenses of Jurors and Prospective Jurors:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a person who reports for jury service in response to the process of a court is entitled to receive as reimbursement for travel and other expenses an amount:
(1) not less than $20 for the first day or fraction of the first day the person is in attendance in court in response to the process and discharges the person's duty for that day; and
(2) not less than $58 for each day or fraction of each day the person is in attendance in court in response to the process after the first day and discharges the person's duty for that day.
(f) A reimbursement for expenses under this section is not a property right of a person who reports for jury service for purposes of Chapters 72 <https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=PR&Value=72> and 74 <https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=PR&Value=74>, Property Code. If a check, instrument, or other method of payment authorized under Section 113.048 <https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=LG&Value=113.048>, Local Government Code, representing a reimbursement under this section is not presented for payment or redeemed before the 90th day after it is issued:
(1) the instrument or other method of payment is considered forfeited and is void; and
(2) the money represented by the instrument or other method of payment may be placed or retained in the county's jury fund, the county's general fund, or any other fund in which county funds can be legally placed, at the discretion of the commissioners court.
As of October 1, 2023 Harris County approved an additional $10.00 to pay jurors, totaling $30.00 for the first day. The total forfeited payments returned to the county since inception of pay cards in late August 2023 through February 2024 (6 months and one week) totals $452,633. Funds are returned to the county in the month following the month when they have been outstanding at least 90 days. As checks are still issued for the JP Courts jurors, there is still a small number of forfeited checks each month as well. Checks represent approximately 7% of all juror payments currently.
Expected Impact:
The unclaimed juror payments are currently deposited back into Miscellaneous Forfeited Account for pay cards and Miscellaneous Stale Dated Checks Account. The unclaimed juror payments should offset the expense under the District Clerk’s Office Fees and Services Petit Jury Expense Account, thereby reflecting the actual cost of juror payments. When a check is voided, that money goes back into the account the funds came out of. That is how these forfeited juror payments should be handled. We feel in order to know the true cost of Juror Payments, any unclaimed payments need to reduce the total expense of payments. We are pleased to report the percentage of juror forfeited payments since October, 2023 has decreased from an average of 28.4% for the last 6 months of checks issued to 24.3% using the cards for the last 5 months. However, due to the increase in juror pay, the dollar amount forfeited is up quite a bit, which significantly impacts the net cost of juror pay.
Alternative Options:
The alternative option is to leave the unclaimed funds in the General Fund 1000 under Department 202, Office of Management and Budget. This does not give us a true picture of the total paid to jurors annually.
Alignment with Goal(s):
X Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Location: Downtown Courthouse Complex
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Anticipated Court Date: 06/25/2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): N/A
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Wes McCoy, Chief Deputy of Administration; Judith Snively, Chief Deputy of Courts; Araceli Carrizales, Financial Services Administrator.
Attachments (if applicable):