Performance Measure and Corrective Action Plan Annual Report County Fiscal Year End 2009-2010 (October 2009 through September 2010) Section 28.35(2)(d) Florida Statutes December 2010
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Florida Statutes requires the Clerk of Court Operations Corporation (CCOC) to develop a uniform system of performance measures and applicable performance standards for the Clerks court-related functions listed in s. 28.35(2)(d), F.S. These measures and standards shall be designed to facilitate an objective determination of the performance of each clerk in accordance with minimum standards for fiscal management, operational efficiency, and effective collection of fines, fees, service charges, and court costs. When the corporation finds a clerk has not met the performance standards, the corporation shall identify the nature of each deficiency and any corrective action recommended and taken by the affected clerk of the court. The corporation shall notify the Legislature and the Supreme Court of any clerk not meeting performance standards and provide a copy of any corrective action plans. The CCOC developed four (4) performance standards including; collection rate, timeliness for filing new cases and docketing court decisions, processing jury payments, and fiscal management reporting. (See specific performance sections for definitions and standards.) During County Fiscal Year 2008-2009 63 Clerks required at least one corrective action plan (CAP). As shown in Table 1 below most Clerk offices (91%) required a CAP for collections and a little more than half (53.7%) of the Clerk offices required a CAP for not filing cases or docketing court records timely, and about 20% required a CAP for not paying jurors timely. In contrast, Clerk offices did not require a CAP for fiscal management reports. It appears that in the last quarter of the year when Clerks took a significant cutback it impacted their ability to meet performance standards. Table 1 Total Clerks Offices Requiring CAPs per Performance Standard Collections Timeliness 1 Timeliness Juror Payment Processing Clerks Offices Requiring CAPs Percentage of 67 Clerks Offices 64 45 45 18 95.5% 67.2% 67.2% 26.9%
Performance Measures, Standards and Reporting Requirements The CCOC established a uniform performance measure and standards for all Clerk offices. The performance measures, standards, and reporting requirements are shown below. Collections: Requires 4 quarterly reports for 9 court divisions. Court Division Performance Standard Annual Collection Rate Circuit Felony 9% County Misdemeanor 40% Juvenile Delinquency 9% Criminal Traffic 40% Circuit Civil 90% County Civil 90% Circuit Probate 90% Family 75% Civil Traffic 90% Timeliness: Requires 2 semi-annual reports for 2 performance measures filing new cases, and docketing court decisions. Court Division Timeliness for New Cases Filed Timeliness for Docketing Circuit Felony 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days County Misdemeanor 80%-3 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Juvenile Delinquency 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Criminal Traffic 80%-3 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Circuit Civil 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days County Civil 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Circuit Probate 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Family 80%-3 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Juvenile Dependency 80%-2 bus. days 80%-3 bus. days Civil Traffic 80%-4 bus. days 80%-4 bus. days (The timeliness report frequency will be quarterly starting CFY2010)
Juror Payment Processing: Requires 2 semi-annual reports. Report Frequency October through March April through September Payment Processing Standard 100% within 20 days after completion of jury service 100% within 20 days after completion of jury service (The juror payment report frequency will be quarterly starting CFY2010) Fiscal Management: Requires one (1) annual report on the status of nine (9) financial reporting requirements. FM Standard #1: A routine annual financial audit in accordance with s.11.45 and s.218.39, F.S. will or has been done by an independent auditor. FM Standard #2: There is a plan to correct any major audit findings, if applicable, in accordance with s. 218.39(6), F.S. FM Standard #3: The Clerk s accounting system meets all the requirements of GAAP and the Uniform Accounting System in accordance with s. 218.33 F.S., as mandated by the Florida Department of Financial Services. FM Standard #4: There is a method in place to produce a revenue assessment & collections report required by s. 28.246, F.S. FM Standard#5: Clerks/Counties have an accounting system that provides monthly and YTD expenditures by criminal and civil courts and budget categories. FM Standard #6: Clerks/Counties have a system that produces CCOC required data and information in support of budget submission requirements as established by the CCOC, including accounting data breakouts (expenditures, revenues, reserves) by budget categories/uas codes; an expenditure and revenue projection system/methodology; an FTE count and distribution methodology for calculating administrative/article V costs; a performance measurement collection and analysis system and a unit costing capacity (divide output measurements into expenditures). FM Standard #7: The last required excess fee payment pursuant to s. 28.37(4), F.S. was submitted timely. FM Standard #8: Required monthly expenditure and revenue reports to the CCOC were produced timely and according to instructions. FM Standard #9: the last required Article V budget submission to the CCOC was complete and submitted according to instructions
Fiscal Year 2008-2009 Annual Performance As shown in Table 2, during county fiscal year 2009-2010, the Clerk offices completed 668 CAPs or about 8% of the potential CAPs that could were required. Most (16%) of the required CAPs were because Clerks did not meet collection standards. Less than 10% of the required CAPs were for not meeting timeliness and juror payment timeliness standards. More information for the performance categories are detailed below. Table 2 Totals Corrective Action Plan Activity FY2009-10 Collections Timeliness1 Timeliness2 Juror Payment Processing Fiscal Management Reporting Totals Potential CAPs 2412 2680 2680 268 67 8107 Number of CAPS required 387 113 150 18 0 668 Percentage 16% 4.2% 5.6% 6.7% 100% 8.24% COLLECTIONS The collections performance is a summary of four quarters beginning October 1, 2008 and ending September 30, 2010. The control group data reported during these periods began being collected October 1, 2008. The structure of the quarters is shown below. Control Group Structure CFY 2009-10 Date Range of Control Group Data Captured Date Range of Control Group Data Tracked Control Group Naming October 1, 2008 thru December 31, 2008 October 1, 2008 thru December 31, 2009 Q1-2009-10 January 1, 2009 thru March 31, 2009 January 1, 2009 thru March. 31, 2010 Q2-2009-10 April 1, 2009 thru June 30, 2009 April 1, 2009 thru June 30, 2010 Q3-2009-10 July 1, 2009 thru September 30, 2009 July 1, 2009 thru September 30, 2010 Q4-2009-10 The collection control groups reported were originally assessed from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. The data from these control groups have been tracked for five quarters to show what was collected from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2010. As shown in Table 3, the number of clerk offices meeting all collection standards (100%= 9 of 9 court divisions) decreased from 22 at the beginning of the fiscal year to 9 at the end of the fiscal year. The table also shows that at the end of the fiscal year most (29+17=46) of the clerk offices met between 80%-90% (7 to 8 court divisions) collection standards. Table 3 Collections - Number of Clerk Offices Meeting Standards: QUARTER 100% (9 of 9) 90% (8 of 9) 80% (7 of 9) 70% (6 of 9) 60% or below (more than 6 Q1-2010 22 22 15 4 4 Q2-2010 18 25 14 5 5 Q3-2010 12 27 18 7 3 Q4-2010 9 29 17 12 0
As shown in Table 4, the Criminal Court saw an increase in the number of CAPs from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year (50 to 59). In contrast, the Civil Court saw a decrease in the number of CAPs for the same time period (8 to 3) and Civil Traffic remained relatively constant (39-38). Most of the criminal CAPs were required for circuit felony division followed by county misdemeanor division. Clerks attributed their performance to four primary reasons: (1) the economy, (2) incarcerations, (3) technology issues, and (4) layoffs. Table 4 Collections Number of Corrective Action Plans Needed By Court Criminal Quarter Circuit Felony County Misdemeanor Juvenile Delinquency Criminal Traffic Total Criminal Q1-2009-10 23 18 5 4 50 Q2-2009-10 27 16 3 4 50 Q3-2009-10 28 18 4 2 52 Q4-2009-10 32 20 4 3 59 Civil Quarter Circuit Civil County Civil Family Probate Total Civil Q1-2009-10 3 1 3 1 8 Q2-2009-10 2 2 3 2 9 Q3-2009-10 2 1 2 1 6 Q4-2009-10 0 0 3 0 3 Civil Traffic Quarter Traffic Q1-2009-10 39 Q2-2009-10 33 Q3-2009-10 38 Q4-2009-10 38
TIMELINESS There are two types of timeliness performance measures reported percentage of new cases opened within x business days after initial documents are clocked in; and dockets entered within x business days after court action taken. During 2008-2009 fiscal year timeliness performance standards were reported semi-annually (October 2008 through March 2009 and April 2009 through September 2009). Beginning with October 2009, timeliness was reported quarterly. As shown in Table 5, the number of Clerk offices that met the new case filing timeliness standard for all court divisions (100%=10 of 10) increased from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year (37 to 48). The table also shows that at the end of the fiscal year most of the clerk offices met 90% (9 to 10 court divisions). Table 5 Timeliness #1 Number of Clerk Offices Meeting Filing Standard FY0910 100% (10 of 10) 90% (9 of 10) 80% (8 of 10) 70% (7 of 10) 60% or below (more than 7) Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 37 20 7 2 1 Q3-2009-10 43 16 6 1 1 Q4-2009-10 48 8 8 2 1 As shown in Table 6, the Criminal Court saw an increase in the number of CAPs from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year (10 to 14). In contrast the Civil Court and the Civil Traffic Court s saw a decrease in the number of CAPs from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year (27 to 17) and (6 to 3) respectively. Clerks attributed their performance to staffing layoffs, reassigning of staff to meet the increase volume of mortgage foreclosures, and training. Table 6 Timeliness #1 Number of Corrective Action Plans Needed Criminal FY0910 Circuit Felony County Criminal Juvenile Delinquency Criminal Traffic Total Criminal Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 1 2 4 3 10 Q3-2009-10 2 6 4 3 15 Q4-2009-10 2 4 2 6 14 Civil FY09-10 Circuit Civil County Civil Probate Family Juvenile Dependency Total Civil Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 11 3 6 6 1 27 Q3-2009-10 8 2 4 1 2 17 Q4-2009-10 8 4 4 1 0 17
Civil Traffic FY2009-10 Traffic Q1-2009-10 n/a Q2-2009-10 6 Q3-2009-10 4 Q4-2009-10 3 As shown in Table 7, the number of Clerk offices that met the docketing timeliness standard for all court divisions (100%=10 of 10) improved slightly from the beginning of fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year (39 to 44). The table however also shows that there has not been much changed in the number of Clerk offices improving or increasing the number of court divisions that are docketed timely. Table 7: Timeliness #2 Number of Clerk Offices Meeting Docketing Standard FY2009-10 100% (10 of 10) 90% (9 of 10) 80% (8 of 10) 70% (7 of 10) 60% or below (more than 7) Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 39 17 5 3 3 Q3-2009-10 43 16 6 1 1 Q4-2009-10 44 8 4 8 3 As shown in Table 8, All three of the Court s saw an increase in the number of CAPs from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of the fiscal year Criminal (20 to 21), Civil (29 to 34), Civil Traffic (0-2). Clerks attributed their performance to staffing layoffs, reassigning of staff to meet the increase volume of mortgage foreclosures, and training. Table 8 Timeliness #2 Number of Corrective Action Plans Needed By Court Criminal FY 2009-10 Circuit Felony County Misdemeanor Juvenile Delinquency Criminal Traffic Total Criminal Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 6 5 1 8 20 Q3-2009-10 2 6 4 3 15 Q4-2009-10 7 5 3 6 21 Civil FY 2009-10 Circuit Civil County Civil Probate Family Juvenile Dependency Total Civil Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 14 5 5 5 0 29 Q3-2009-10 8 2 4 1 2 17 Q4-2009-10 14 6 6 7 1 34
JURY PAYMENTS PROCESSED Civil Traffic FY 2009-10 Traffic Q1-2009-10 n/a Q2-2009-10 0 Q3-2009-10 4 Q4-2009-10 2 Juror payments processed standard is the number of jurors that are paid timely for their jury service. The standard to meet Chapter 40.32 Florida Statutes and/or Rules of Judicial Administration requires that jurors be paid within 20 days after completion of jury service. The juror payment activity is reported semi-annually. As shown in Table 9, the number of Clerk offices that met the standard increased from 57 to 63. Table 9 Total Number of Clerks processing juror payments timely FY0910 Number of clerks meeting the 100% standard Percentage of clerks meeting 100% standard Q1-2009-10 n/a n/a Q2-2009-10 57 85.1% Q3-2009-10 64 95.5% Q4-2009-10 63 94.0% The number of juror payments issued in CFY20089-10 was 227,977; the number issued timely was 226,345 or 99.3%. There were three major responses cited by clerks for not meeting the performance standards (1) staffing, (2) juror laye pay requests, and (3) technology issues. FISCAL MANAGEMENT Fiscal Management standards are reported by May 30 of each year for the Clerk s previous fiscal year (October through September 30). There are eight (8) fiscal management reports that are measured and Clerks certify which of the nine reports they met during the specified fiscal year. The fiscal management performance standard reported during this fiscal year is or fiscal management reports completed during fiscal year 2008-2009. This one-year lag is due to the primary reporting item is the county s audited financial report, which takes additional time to complete external audit - in comparison to the other FM items. Table 10 Fiscal Management - Number of Clerk Offices Meeting Standards: Clerks that met 100% (8 of 8) Clerks that met 90% (7 of 8) Clerks that met 80% or below (more than 6 reports) 4 63 0 Fiscal Management Measures Standard 7: Required monthly (12) expenditure and revenue reports to the CCOC were produced timely and according to instructions, for prior year. Below is how each county performed with regard to FMS#7: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% or below 4 8 21 12 22