Print Back to Calendar Return
    6.    
PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: 10/02/2017  
Subject:    REFERRAL ON JUVENILE FEES CHARGED BY THE PROBATION DEPARTMENT
Submitted For: David Twa
Department: County Administrator  
Referral No.: N/A  
Referral Name: REFERRAL ON JUVENILE FEES CHARGED BY THE PROBATION DEPARTMENT
Presenter: Timothy Ewell, Committee Staff Contact: Timothy Ewell, (925) 335-1036

Information
Referral History:
On July 19, 2016, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Public Protection Committee a review of fees assessed for services provided while a minor is in the custody of the Probation Department. Welfare and Institutions Code 903 et seq. provides that the County may assess a fee for the provision of services to a minor in the custody of its Probation Department. This request was following a statewide discussion as to whether or not these fees should be imposed by counties on the parents or legal guardians of minors in the custody of the County. For reference, included as an attachment is a survey conducted by the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) trying to determine what policies individual counties have put in place related to juvenile fees (Attachment A). In addition, the County of Alameda adopted a resolution in March 2016 imposing a moratorium on juvenile fees and in July 2016 adopted an ordinance to repeal all juvenile fees. Copies of the Board Letter, Resolution and Ordinance are included in the agenda packet for reference (Attachment B).

Collection of Fees

For several years, the County operated an Office of Revenue Collection (ORC) to centralize the collection of fees, fines and other assessments due to the County. The ORC was discontinued in 2010 and the responsibility for the collection of fees was returned to the departments that originally imposed the fee. In the case of the Probation Department, the responsibility for both juvenile fees and adult public defense fees were assigned. At the time, it was determined to be inefficient to establish a collection unit in both the Probation Department and Public Defender's Office.

Authority for Juvenile Fees

California Welfare and Institutions Code 903 et seq. provides counties the ability to recover costs for the provision of services to juveniles in-custody. In 2003, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 03/591 establishing a fee for reimbursement of the actual cost of care of a minor in detention at Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility (OAYRF) and Juvenile Hall. The Resolution authorized the Probation Department to collect $17.03 per day, per minor. In 2010, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 2010/253 increasing the fee from $17.03 per day to $30.00 per day following legislative action increasing the maximum recovery amount to $30.00 per day. In 2009, the Board of Supervisors adopted Ordinance No. 2009-23 establishing a $17-per-day fee for electronic surveillance of minors who are under Probation supervision.

Probation Collections Unit

The fiscal year 2016/17 budget authorizes 4.0 FTE employees to staff the Probation Collections Unit (PCU); (2) two Collections Enforcement Officers, (1) one Accounting Technician and (1) one Clerk-Specialist Level position. A summary of the Recommended Budget is summarized below:



Note that the fiscal year 2016/17 budget plan for PCU anticipates a Net County Cost (NCC) of ($289,938). Since the NCC is a negative number, this should be looked at as a revenue for purposes of analyzing budgetary impacts.

PCU Actual Performance Since Inception

The table below illustrates actual budget performance of PCU since inception in fiscal year 2010/11. Over the past six years, PCU has generated between $200k-250k in net collections revenue for the County each year. In fiscal year 2015/16 (shown in the YTD Actuals column) that figure has increased to approximately $374k due to cost savings from a vacancy in the unit and higher than average collection revenue.


* Note that the "YTD Actuals" column reflects the fiscal year 2015/16 unaudited actuals.

Composition of Revenues


Since the PCU collects revenue for both the Probation and Public Defender departments, it is important to illustrate the revenues generated from each stream of fee recovery revenue. The table below shows the breakdown of Gross Revenue in each fiscal year, by fee type:

The most important finding to be made from the information in the table above is that annual fee revenue from each source exceeds the average net collections revenue from year to year discussed earlier in this report. That is to say that discontinuing one of the two fees would result in PCU being unable to cover its annual operating costs from year-to-year.

How Does PCU Compare to the Cost of Running Juvenile Hall?

The PCU operates in a separate cost center within the Probation Department budget. However, since the PCU currently provides a net collections revenue benefit to the department as a whole, it is important to illustrate the relative costs to the County for operating the Juvenile Hall as an illustration. A summary of the fiscal year 2016/17 Recommended Budget is provided below for reference:



Current Status of Accounts Receivable

Currently, the PCU has $16.9 million in accounts receivable outstanding through June 30, 2016. A breakdown by fee type and year of assessment is attached to this staff report for reference (Attachment C). In summary, $8.55 million is attributable to Juvenile Fees and $8.34 million is attributable to Public Defender fees with the oldest account dating back to 1990.

Prior Public Protection Committee Actions

The Public Protection Committee heard this item on September 26, 2016 and forwarded the issue to the Board of Supervisors for discussion. Ultimately, on October 25, 2016 the Board adopted Resolution No. 2016/606, which established a moratorium on the assessment and collection of juvenile fees. Concurrently, the Board directed staff to return to the Public Protection Committee and forward a recommendation back to the Board by May 31, 2017.

On March 6, 2017, the Committee received an update from the County Probation Officer on the status of juvenile fees and the current moratorium. At that time the Committee recommended that the juvenile fees subject to the temporary moratorium be permanently repealed and directed staff to return to the Committee with a recommendation as to how to refund certain juvenile justice fees that were erroneously charged by the County.

On July 10, 2017, the Committee received an update from the Probation Department. Specifically, the Probation Department reviewed four years (11/1/12-11/1/16) of information and examined 5,497 Juvenile Hall administrative fee accounts. Of the 5,497 accounts, the department received full or partial payments on 1,652 accounts, which is a 30% collection rate. The Probation Department reviewed all 1,652 accounts to determine if there were any overpayments for minors in custody at Juvenile Hall where payments were made even though there was not a sustained petition. This included minors who were charged as adults but were housed in Juvenile Hall, regardless of the final disposition. Of the 1,652 accounts, Probation determined there were 224 accounts, which is 14% of the accounts, where an overpayment was made for a total of $58,172. It should be noted that of the 224 accounts, 17 accounts involved minors who were charged as adults. 15 of the 17 adult files matters resulted in convictions, while the other 2 matters were eventually referred to juvenile court and the petitions were sustained. The total dollar amount for the 17 adult file accounts is $33,033. The 3 largest overpayments, one for $6,000 and two for $8,000, totaling roughly $22,000, were adult file matters, which eventually resulted in convictions.

Following discussion, the Committee directed staff to forward a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to permanently repeal the Juvenile Cost of Care and Electronic Surveillance of Minors fees. Subsequently, the Board of Supervisors considered the Committee's recommendation on Tuesday, September 19, 2017. The Board approved the immediate repeal of the Juvenile Cost of Care fee and introduced an ordinance to effectuate the repeal of the Electronic Surveillance of Minors fee and scheduled adoption for the September 26, 2017 Board meeting. The ordinance was adopted by the Board, as scheduled, on September 26th and takes effect 30 days following passage.
Referral Update:

The Probation Department has begun reviewing two additional years (9/1/10-11/1/12) of Juvenile Hall administrative fee accounts. Those two additional years include 2,660 Juvenile Hall administrative fee accounts.

Of the 2,660 Juvenile Hall accounts, the department received full or partial payments on 1,641 accounts, which is a 62% collection rate.

To date the Probation Department has reviewed 1,585 accounts and determined there are 243 accounts (15%) where an overpayment was made for a total of $68,675.

It should be noted that of the 243 accounts, 21 accounts involved minors who were charged as adults. All of the adult files matters resulted in convictions. The total dollar amount for the 21 adult file accounts is $40,209.

This is in addition to the 1,641 accounts Probation previously reviewed where 230 accounts, had overpayments was for a total of $64,686.

To date from 9/1/10-11/1/16, there are 473 Juvenile Hall administrative fee accounts out of a total of 3,226 (15%) where an overpayment was made for a total of $133,361.

The Probation Department was also asked to review Juvenile Electronic Monitoring accounts from 9/1/10-11/1/16. Of the 2,614 Juvenile Electronic Monitoring accounts, the department received full or partial payments on 1,309 accounts, which is a 50% collection rate.

The Probation Department has not yet begun the review of these accounts but anticipates that it will begin in the next few weeks once the Juvenile Hall accounts are complete.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
1. ACCEPT a report on the refunding of certain fees assessed in the juvenile justice system;

2. FORWARD a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors;

3. PROVIDE any additional direction to staff.
Fiscal Impact (if any):
No immediate fiscal impact.
Attachments
Attachment A - CSAC Survey Results - Juvenile Fees
Attachment B - County of Alameda Resolution Establishing Moratorium and Ordinance on Juvenile Fees
Attachment C - PCU Outstanding Balances through June 30, 2016

AgendaQuick©2005 - 2024 Destiny Software Inc., All Rights Reserved