County of Santa Clara
Office of the Board of Supervisors
County Government Center, East Wing
70 West Hedding Street, loth Floor
San Jose, California 951 10
(408) 299-2323
FAX 298-8460 TDD 993-8272

James T. Beall. Jr.

Supervisor, Fourth District

MEMORANDUM
TO:

Roger Mialocq
Harvey Rose

FROM:

James T. Beall, Jr.

Supervisor, District 4
DATE:

May 22,1995

SUBJECT:

See below

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Thank you for taking the time to meet with me regarding the FY 1996
recommended budget. I am looking forward to working with you
throughout the budget process. As a follow up to our discussion, I am
submitting to you this memo which reiterates the specific areas I would like
to you to analyze as part of your review of the budget.
Superior Court
Superior Court is expected to overrun its FY 1995 budget by $1.2 million.
Much of this overrun is due to the costs associated with staff for the five

retired judges that were hired by the Court after the budget was approved.
According to a memo from Richard Wittenberg (see attached), these staff costs
are projected to be approximately $750,000 for FY 1995.
I have reviewed the proposed budget that Superior Court submitted to the
Trial Court Funding Commission for FY 1996. The five retired judges are not
included in this budget. Please analyze what cost savings will be achieved as a
result of these judges not having to be staffed.
Last year, the Board directed Superior and Municipal courts to pursue
consolidation. Superior Court's budget was reduced by $250,000 with the
expectation that consolidation would reduce costs. This money has been
added back to the FY 1996 budget. Please analyze what magnitude of cost

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savings would be achieved if court consolidation was implemented in FY
1996?

In addition, please review the Court's budget to determine if there are savings
that could cover the cost of the Court's $1.2 million overrun.

Department of Corrections

A significant component of the Department of Correction's budget increase is
due to the upgrade of M-8 from a minimum- to medium-security facility.
Please review the process by which DOC classifies prisoners as minimum,
medium, and high to determine what options are available to reduce the
number of medium-security inmates in our jails.

I have recently been made aware of the fact that Santa Clara Cormty may be
housing inmates that are eligible for transfer to State prison (see attached
memo from George Kennedy). Please research the issue raised by Mr.

Kennedy to determine how many of our inmates, including juveniles, are
eligible for transfer.

Finally, I would like you review the Department of Correction's ratio of
overhead to direct services.

Thank you for your assistance in researching these areas. I look forward to
your response.

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Members,Board of Supervisors