Courts produce revenue for state

To the editor:

Gov. Matt Blunt has recommended that Missouri's courts receive $142 million of general-revenue funds, sparing them from cuts in the fiscal year 2006 budget. The Missouri Bar supports this recommendation. The courts have already sustained a 10 percent decrease in funding since 2001, despite an increasing caseload. Adequate court funding is not only good for Missourians who rely on court decisions, but also for those who rely on the funds the courts collect.

Missouri's courts collect a significant amount of filing fees, fines and filing surcharges. In 2003, Missouri courts collected $397 million. According to the Office of State Courts Administration, all but $4.5 million of those funds left the court system and were used to finance other vital services. School districts received more than $25 million in fines collected by the courts. Other court-collect money goes toward law-enforcement training, sheriffs' fees, the head injury fund, services for victims and a variety of other state services. The $4.5 million that stayed in the court system was designated for court automation.

Although courts account for a small portion of the general-revenue budget (1.68 percent), the revenue they bring in is greater than their cost to the state. The governor's budget recommendation ensures a court system that can continue to meet its responsibilities to Missouri's residents whose lives and businesses rely on court rulings as well as those who depend upon the services funded by filing fees and court fines.

JOE B. WHISLER, President, The Missouri Bar, Kansas City, Mo.