Okaloosa County BOCC — August 18, 2015 — Direction on remissions to Department of Juvenile Justice — agenda request — reading text

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: August 18, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Rick Owen SUBJECT: Direction on remissions to Department of Juvenile Justice DEPARTMENT: County Administrator BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: On July 15, 2015, the County received notification from the Department of Juvenile Justice as to the estimate of the County’s share of the costs relating to juvenile cost sharing for FY 15-16. The annual amount estimated by the Department of Juvenile Justice for Okaloosa County was $773,888.96. This amount is to be paid in monthly installments of $64,490.75. A copy of the notification is included as part of the Agenda Request. Direction is requested from the Board as to the funding of these amounts during the coming year. BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: Under the provisions of section 985.686, Florida Statutes, the cost of secure juvenile detention is shared between the counties and the State of Florida. The responsibility for funding, as between counties and the State, is determined by whether a particular detention is a pre-disposition or post disposition. Counties are responsible for pre- disposition detention costs and the State of Florida is responsible for post disposition costs. Over the years, there has been substantial litigation primarily related to the Department shifting costs to the counties. This has resulted in a determination in several administrative proceedings that the Department has overcharged the counties by millions of dollars. Okaloosa County, for FY 09-10 through FY 12-13 was overcharged a total of $3,097,864.42. During FY 14-15, the County elected to pay only the amount that they believed they were responsible for and as a result was billed $679,313 by the Department of Juvenile Justice but only paid $214,237, or a difference of $465,076. This equated to approximately 32% and was consistent with the determination by the Department of Juvenile Justice as to the amount that Okaloosa County actually was owed during these prior years. A listing of the amounts previously billed by the Department of Juvenile Justice, the amounts paid by the County and extent of overpayment is attached as part of the Agenda Request. Efforts are currently ongoing to the recovery of these amounts. During the most recent legislative session, there were efforts by the Legislature to modify section 985.686, Florida Statutes to address the allocation of costs between the counties and the State. Those efforts were unsuccessful. However in the Appropriation Act, the Legislature attempted to allocate the costs between the counties and the State by allocating 57% of the cost to the Counties and 43% to the State. (The proportion of responsibility as previous established by the courts and Division of Administrative Hearings was that the counties were responsible for 32% of the cost and the State was responsible for 68%). In the implementing bill for the Appropriations Act, the Legislature included what is called a “Clawback” provision. This provision requires that “If the Department of Juvenile Justice determines that a county has not met its obligations, the department shall direct the Department of Revenue to deduct the amount owed to the Department of Juvenile Justice from the funds provided to the county under s. 218.23, Florida Statues.” It has been determined by both the State Revenue Estimating Conference and the Department of Juvenile Justice that the application of this Clawback provision will be prospectively applied only. As a result, that provision will not be applied toward recapturing the amount withheld last year by the County. There are several problems with the attempt of the Legislature to include this type of language in an implementation bill for the Appropriations Act. First, they are not allowed to modify substantive law through an Appropriation Act. This provision would have that effect. Second, the determination by the Department of Juvenile Justice as to the amount owed, should consider the amount of overpayments made by the counties in past years. At this point, staff needs direction as to the estimate submitted by the Department of Juvenile Justice and what amount should be paid. OPTIONS: Provide Staff Direction as to the amount to be remitted to the Department of Juvenile Justice. This would include payment of the full amount of the invoice or alternatively, a lesser amount. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the County continue to remit the amount it believes that it actually owes and authorize the County Attorney to take such actions as necessary to prevent the application of the Clawback provision. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator