LAKEPORT, Calif. – The state is taking several steps to cut costs in its facilities program, but the new Lakeport courthouse is still on track.

Earlier this month, the Judicial Council of California endorsed several cost-cutting measures for court construction while affirming its commitment to much-needed improvements in the judicial branch’s statewide infrastructure.

The council approved recommendations from the 25-member Court Facilities Working Group to cancel two construction projects in Alpine and Sierra counties – estimated to save more than $50 million – and to look for ways to save money on the other 39 projects on the drawing board that are funded under SB 1407.

Those fiscal measures are necessary because the state Legislature has borrowed or redirected more than $500 million from the SB 1407 fund – specifically created to support courthouse construction – into the state general fund or to court operations this fiscal year, state judicial officials reported.

The Judicial Council said that more than $1.1 billion in courthouse construction funds has been borrowed, redirected or swept into the general fund since 2009.

The Judicial Council also cleared the way for 33 projects to proceed without any delays, while six will have a short-term delay of a few months, until the start of the next fiscal year when court-collected revenue should again be available to allow them to go forward, the council reported.

Among the projects to see a minor delay is a new $55 million, 50,000-square-foot courthouse to be built at 675 Lakeport Blvd. in Lakeport.

Teresa Ruano, a spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the Courts, said the Lakeport courthouse is in the first phase of architectural design, or the preliminary plans phase, which she said isn’t scheduled for completion until the last quarter of this fiscal year, or the spring of 2012.

Once the plans are completed, she said there will be a slight delay of a few months until the new fiscal year starts in July 2012.The next phase, working drawings, is the last phase before construction.

Mary Smith, chief executive officer of the Lake County Superior Court, told Lake County News that the project is continuing to move forward, and that court officials are optimistic that it will stay on track, despite the planned delay.

“A couple months’ delay is not a bad thing, all things considered,” she said.

Ruano explained that the Judicial Council’s actions included a 4-percent cut to all projects, of which 2 percent is in construction costs, with 2 percent to come from savings to be achieved in an owner-controlled insurance program. Those cuts are estimated to save $160 million statewide.

The council also announced the formation of a courthouse cost reduction subcommittee, to be chaired by Justice Jeffrey Johnson, associate justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District in Los Angeles.

The subcommittee will review all new courthouse projects for ways to further reduce costs without compromising safety or security, officials reported.

“All of the projects will be looked at by this cost reduction subcommittee,” including Lake’s, said Ruano.

She said she believes the subcommittee will look for cuts early in the design process, noting that it gets more expensive to make changes the further the process proceeds.

Also at its meeting this month, the council discussed cuts to repair funding – $30 million this year, down by 40 percent – needed to keep 500 buildings maintained statewide.

Many of those buildings suffer from deferred maintenance, “a legacy of neglect reaching back years before they were transferred to the state,” the Judicial Council reported.

The council directed the Administrative Office of the Courts to seek additional funding through the Legislature for courthouse operations and maintenance, as well as to pursue legislative measures that would give the judicial branch greater flexibility in allocating funds among various facility needs, officials reported.

The Alliance of California Judges has been highly critical of the state judicial branch’s handling of its finances, in particular the California Court Case Management System, which would link court records statewide and is estimated could cost into the billions to implement.

The group also has questioned what it called “the exorbitant costs of courthouse construction and maintenance.”

In a Dec. 16 message to its members, the directors of the group indicated they were pleased that the cost-cutting committee had been formed, one of some “common sense actions” they commended the Judicial Council for taking.

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