LOW ON FUNDS:

Shelby County Juvenile Court faces dilemma over funding.

Like every other elected official in Shelby County, Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael submitted a budget this spring to the County Commission, a budget that, like many others, included a request for additional funds.

Michael asked the commission for $1.142 million for court operations, repairs, maintenance, new programming and expenses toward compliance with the memorandum of agreement between the court, the county and the U.S. Department of Justice, which found systemic discrimination toward African-American children.

Last week, the commission approved a $1.18 billion budget for fiscal year 2016, awarding the court $463,000 for programming and none for operations.

It’s been nine years, Michael said, since the commission approved any additional funds for operations to the court’s $17 million budget, and he can’t say if he will spend the new money on programs when the court has so many other needs.

“What I have told the County Commission very directly is: I cannot afford to be spending money on services when the ship is sinking. I’ve got to keep the ship afloat,” Michael said.

During budget hearings, commissioners were reminded that once money is given to an elected official, the commission can’t dictate how it’s spent, Michael said.

He’s asked the county attorney for an opinion on whether he can spend the new money on operations and, if that’s allowable, how he should do it.

“If they can’t tell me how I can spend it, what hoops do I have to jump through to spend it how I want to?” Michael wondered.

Meanwhile, some commissioners say, most of the funding increase given to other elected officials will go indirectly to Juvenile Court. They added that it was Michael’s responsibility to “advocate” for the court.

Commissioner Terry Roland said he didn’t vote for the budget, which passed 9-2, and has spoken to Michael about the dilemma.

“So now we’ve got a heck of a mess,” Roland said

County Mayor Mark Luttrell’s administration sent the commis-

sion a budget with a $6 million surplus that was to be divvied up among elected officials and nonprofit organizations, which had requests that totaled about $8 million.

The court received $313,000 for an evening reporting center, which it requested, and $150,000 for other programming at Juvenile Intervention and FaithBased Followup (JIFF), which it didn’t ask for, said Larry Scroggs, court CAO.

Although the evening reporting center pilot program was run through JIFF, county rules won’t allow the court to simply pass the money on to the nonprofit agency without following procedures that require a public request for services, Scroggs said.

The court also asked for money for building repairs, maintenance, additional magistrates and to pay the monitors who periodically visit the court as required by the memorandum of agreement (MOA).

“Right now we’re kind of in a limbo state. We’ve been deprived of funds for the operation of the court that would help bring us in compliance with MOA, and that’s the consternation we’re dealing with,” Scroggs said.

What also rankles Michael is that the commission approved $1.3 million for itself, giving each of the 13 commissioners $100,000 to disburse to nonprofit organizations or for government community enhancement projects.

“You have given money to each of yourselves at a rate of $100,000 to dole out in each of your districts as you see fit,” Michael said.

The commission also awarded $290,000 to the nonprofit Memphis Health Center.

“So they would rather put almost a million five ($1.5 million) into grants than fund the county agency that had requested additional funds,” Michael said. “I talked to every single county commissioner long before the vote. We gave them our budget. We explained it in detail. We got nothing.”

But, Commissioner Steve Basar pointed out that while not awarded directly to Juvenile Court, much of the $6 million went to support Juvenile Court, including $1.5 million for the sheriff to take over operations of the juvenile detention center and court security along with $500,000 to the public defender for juvenile defense.

“And if you put it in that perspective, I think it’s a little more impactful,” Basar said.

This year’s budget battle was a tough one, said Commissioner Walter Bailey.

“I’m for a tax increase if that’s what’s required to take care of the necessary expenditures to make this a better county,” Bailey said. “But everybody had dug in that there would be no tax increase, and then you’ve got to start prioritizing. For the time being, that’s the best we could do.”

Also, it’s the court’s responsibility to advocate for what it needs, he said.

“The thing is, that’s just textbook politics,” Bailey said. “If you want to get something done, you’ve got to advocate. Otherwise, nobody knows how important this is to you. Because that’s what we have to do, we have to advocate for a point of view out there on the floor. There’s no reason to be demure and bashful.”

Michael said his team will review the court’s finances in the hopes of keeping the court going and funding the programs it needs.

“We’re meeting with the CFO (chief financial officer) and legal team to figure out how we can stay afloat and make the changes we need to make to turn this court around and make it run effective without any money from the County Commission,” he said.