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If you follow politics, you've undoubtedly heard of unfunded mandates. That's what happens when a legislative body approves a law but fails to provide the funding necessary to fully implement it. One of the more notable unfunded mandates at the federal level involves President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. The program was hailed as a way to level the playing field for all students, regardless of locale or socioeconomic status. But schools never received the necessary funds to hire mentors and special language teachers and reduce class sizes to meet the program's aims. It became yet another well-intentioned-but-woefully-underfunded federal mandate. But the federal government's failure to fund No Child Left Behind is trivial compared to the game being played by the Pennsylvania Legislature. In 1987, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that uniformity in courts across Pennsylvania was required. The decision arose out of a court decision in which Allegheny County argued successfully that placing those costs on counties forces county taxpayers to pay higher property taxes and creates an uneven court system because of differences in property tax bases in each county. That meant the state, not individual counties, was responsible for paying salaries of employees of common pleas court. At that time, the Legislature agreed to pay the salaries of common pleas court judges and district magisterial judges. In 1999, the Legislature also agreed to pay the salaries of 200 court administrators across the commonwealth. But that's where the Legislature stopped. Now the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania wants the Supreme Court to enforce the ruling it handed down 21 years ago by requiring the Legislature to fund support staff for common pleas and district judges, domestic relations, parole offices and court-related offices. Association director Doug Hill estimated the cost of this unfunded mandate on all 67 counties to be at least $400 million annually. Lancaster County Commissioners estimate the local cost at $11 million annually. Although the state reimburses counties $70,000 per judge for operational costs, that figure has remained unchanged since 1981. To keep pace with costs, Hill said the Legislature should be paying about $166,000 per judge in 2008. We realize these are difficult times for state government. Revenue is down, and the state projects a budget deficit of perhaps as much as $2 billion. We do not expect the state to begin paying full costs right away. Indeed, there are other issues that must be resolved, such as whether revenue generated by the local court system would have to be turned back to the state. But the courts have found the existing practice of placing a large portion of the burden on counties to be unconstitutional. Therefore, the state should prepare to phase in over several years a tax plan that would generate the revenue needed to pay judicial system costs. Lancaster County Commissioners were right to support the association's motion earlier this month. The obligation to fund the judicial system rests with the state. |
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