Agenda

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PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	09/26/2016
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 is 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 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 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 an 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.

Referral Update:

Committee staff will present this item at the meeting. Representatives from the Probation Department will be in attendance to assist with any questions that Committee members may have.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

1. ACCEPT an introductory report on the issue of certain fees assessed by the County related to the juvenile justice system; and,

2. PROVIDE direction to staff regarding next steps

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