Counties hope bill resolves fight over detention costs

By MARGIE MENZEL
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, January 8, 2016..........After years of court battles, Florida counties hope the Legislature will pass a proposed compromise about how juvenile-detention costs are shared with the state.

The proposal (SB 1322) by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, would divide the cost of detaining young offenders equally between the state Department of Juvenile Justice and county governments --- a 50-50 split that would replace a formula that currently requires counties to pay 57 percent and the state to pay 43 percent.

The measure also would do away with a billing process in which counties pay annual estimated costs in advance. Counties contend the system has resulted in them being owed millions in overpayments --- or getting hit with unexpected bills at the last minute.

"Pinellas (County) just got billed $1 million because (DJJ) billed 'em wrong in the projection at the beginning of the year," Latvala said. "So they get a lump-sum billing now, after the year is over, of a million dollars. And of course, there's no credit for what the state still owes them for the years that they overbilled. It's just a screwed-up process that needs to be fixed."

Under his bill, which was filed Tuesday, the counties would pay their actual costs for the previous year. That would start with the state fiscal year beginning July 1.

"The department will be monitoring the legislation and remains committed to working with the Legislature and the counties to find a resolution that best serves Florida's youth and their families," Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Christina Daly wrote in an email. 

The dispute centers on the department's handling of a 2004 law that requires counties to help pay for "predisposition," or the costs of detaining underage offenders before they are sentenced. Between 2009 and 2013, the department calculated the counties' share at 75 percent. Then in June 2013, the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld an administrative law judge's ruling that the department had shifted more responsibility for the costs to counties than the law required.

"Your overwhelming evidence of systemic failed billing practices has convinced me for the need to rewrite the statute," Latvala wrote to the Florida Association of Counties on Friday. "What should have been a simple and obvious fix has turned into a political quagmire."

Following the ruling, the Legislature in 2014 tried to come up with another formula. But a bill proposing a 50-50 split failed when the counties sought hundreds of millions of dollars in back payments. As a result, Gov. Rick Scott and the Department of Juvenile Justice settled on the current 57-43 percent formula, which the counties have argued is too high.

"It's another of those unfunded mandates that could be the ruination of a county," Volusia County Council Chairman Jason Davis said.

The dispute affects 38 counties. The 29 poorest counties are considered "fiscally constrained" and aren't part of the cost-sharing formula.

Davis called Latvala's proposal "a good start." But he plans to seek the $10 million to $15 million in back payments he estimates Volusia is owed. He said constituents want projects that can't get underway because the county lacks the funds.

To Okaloosa County Commissioner Nathan Boyles, however, the question of back payments shouldn't keep the counties from accepting the 50-50 compromise this year.

"That's where it really seemed to founder on the rocks in Tallahassee (in 2014)," he said. "But that's an issue that can be resolved separately."

Boyles said the current budgeting process creates too much uncertainty for counties, and Latvala's bill would fix that.

"Tallahassee currently has the privilege of sending us a bill at the end of their fiscal year and saying, 'All right, now, pay up, you were short,' " he said. "We need the ability at the outset of our budget year to understand what the implication of this substantial cost-driver is going to be for us. …. While we may not like the bill amount, at least we can adequately budget and account for it."

Sen. Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican who sponsored the 2014 measure, said Latvala's bill is essentially the 50-50 split he proposed two years ago "with the idea that we would do this in exchange for (the counties) forgoing back payments. … I don't see anything that has changed from that position, but I'm one of 40 senators."

Bradley is reserving judgment on the proposal, but he said the counties' lawsuits have also cost taxpayers money.

"They need to quit suing," he said.

Latvala, meanwhile, said he was open to the possibility of crediting the counties based on past overpayments. He wrote to the Florida Association of Counties that the House companion will be sponsored by his son, Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater.