Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@shawanoleader.com
The Shawano County Board this week approved a resolution for half of forfeited bond money collected to go toward courthouse security improvements.
Questions remain about who would handle the money and how a previous funding source would be affected.
The county collects anywhere from $15,000 to $35,000 annually from bail bonds that are forfeited when defendants fail to appear for hearings.
Until now, the forfeited bond money has gone into the general fund.
The Maintenance Department, meanwhile, has budgeted about $6,000 annually to help with courthouse security upgrades. Expenses beyond the $6,000 have gone through the capital improvement projects review process.
Supervisors on Wednesday were unsure whether the bond money approved in the resolution would be in lieu of or in addition to what the Maintenance Department provides.
“Do they get this $6,000 plus the 50 percent (in bond forfeitures)?” Supervisor Bonnie Olson asked. “I would like that question answered.
Supervisor Bert Huntington, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he was unaware of the Maintenance Department funds when his committee recommended the resolution June 11. Despite that, he said using bond money for courthouse security was a good plan.
Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge James Habeck spoke in favor of the resolution. Habeck is chairman of the county’s Courthouse Security Committee, which is not a County Board committee but is mandated by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Habeck indicated that the resolution would give his committee direct oversight of the funding.
“We would like to have a definite figure of what’s available,” Habeck said.
Several county supervisors did not see it that way, however. While the courthouse security money would be kept in a separate county fund, expenses would still need to be approved by the County Board after going through the Public Property and Public Safety committees.
“The judge seems to have a totally different idea of who is going to get this budget,” Supervisor Marlin Noffke said. “It seems to me that this should be sent back (to committee) for another look-see. There are a lot of different people with different ideas about where this should be going.”
A motion to send the resolution back to committee failed 16-11.
Supervisor Deb Noffke questioned whether the money collected from bond funds would be enough to keep the courthouse secure. She felt it would be more efficient to have the Courthouse Security Committee make requests to the board, which could allocate money from the general fund.