New system to help courts monitor money
Administrative office says more regular audits key to catching misspending
A new system to monitor financial transactions may be coming at a good time for the Placer County court system. The implementation of the California Case Management Program will help courts manage their finances in an electronic format that is “definitely” more transparent, said Philip Carrizosa, a spokesperson for the state Administrative Office of the Courts. An April audit released by the administrative office alleges that the Placer County court’s former CEO John Mendes gave himself raises in salary and benefits totaling more than $400,000. Also, current CEO Jake Chatter says the Placer court system is set to face some cuts in the coming fiscal year. The 58 court systems in the state are “gradually adopting” a new California Case Management Program recommended by the administrative office, Carrizosa said. He said the Placer County court system is currently training its employees to use the system. “That will help them keep track of their own finances,” Carrizosa said. Chatters said the court is looking to trim between $3.5 million and $4 million out of $23.5 million in expenses for the 2009-10 fiscal year. He said they are projecting they will be about $550,000 over budget at the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year. “For 2009-2010, we are facing substantial cuts,” Chatters said. Chatters said officials are still reviewing all programs and expenses. He said unrepresented management employees will not receive their cost of living increase for next year. Also, management and unrepresented employees are currently taking one furlough day a month for the year. Chatter said personnel and security costs as well as major balance case-related expenditures for investigations and evaluations are among the court’s major expenses.
How does court funding work? State legislation in 1997 transferred funding authority of courts from counties to the state. The money is “funneled through” the administrative office of the courts, however, each of the trial courts is reasonable for managing their own financial operations, Carrizosa said. Carrizosa explained that courts submit a yearly budget request to the administrative office. The request is divided into general categories. He said sometimes red flags are raised when, for example, one court is asking for more money for security than other courts. However, to catch issues such as the one raised in the special audit of Mendes, Carrizosa said the office wants to do more regular reviews. “That’s why we want to do regular audits in the trial courts to keep an eye on things not only for the benefit of the court but to make sure the public money is being properly spent,” Carrizosa said. The problem is funding. With 14 auditors to survey 58 county court systems, Carrizosa said the office falls behind its regular audit schedule. Courts are supposed to be audited once every four years, Carrizosa said. “Given the state of California’s budget, we don’t think it’s a good time to ask for more auditors,” Carrizosa said. “We’ll just have to make do.” Another issue is that sometimes even when the audit or administrative office points out an issue, court officials don’t have to implement every suggestion. “The court still has a lot of say,” Carrizosa said. The Journal's Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment.
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OK, fine. Unfortunately the horse is already out of the barn and employed by Yolo County. Is he going to be prosecuted or are we just going to write half a million buck and charge it to experience. Once again, no one in Government cares about our tax dollars, they only care as to how they can benefit from them.
The courts already knew what was going on...I guarantee it! No body with a business or acounting degree would have allowed all these "inside bennies", knowing that they violate conflict of interest, CA Administrative law, Government Code...without being a party to it. They need to look at all of the management. This attempt to do "damage control" is a joke. If the State doesn't file charges on more than one person, then they also are to be audited...
Placer County DA - If you read this perhaps you should go talk to the County Auditor-Controller. She is an honest Auditor. I would bet that she could enlighten you as to what is acceptable government accounting principles and what is a big cover-up...
Ask judges Mcelhany and Gaddis why they helped Mendes hide this by signing some fake contract. How come those judges and Kerney and Nichols wouldn't allow other judges to get information that could have stopped this sooner? Judges who flat out refused to produce salary information of management staff and allowed that court to go broke should be held accountable for their actions. I hear that those judges are hiding and that staff members were being given notice of layoffs today. A thief can get a contract but a regular staff member gets shown the door? In my field Placer is known to be tough on criminals, where is the justice now?
If Mr. Mendes gets away with this then the whole Court system should be replaced with honest Judges. He should be made to spend time behind bars like the criminal he is, be made to pay restitution, and not allowed to be employed anywhere in the Justice system, or employeed anywhere where money is envolved. I say make him pay and pay the maximum. Right is right, and Mr. Mendes you didn't do right.