New chief wants look at court fines

Friday, Jan. 3, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Deborah Agosti, who has worked her way up the judicial ladder during the past 20 years, will become chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court on Monday.

She intends to work on issues during the next year that are "not crowd pleasers" but are nonetheless important to how the court system delivers services, she said.

She also plans to name a commission to examine how courts collect fines and to research the way the various courts in Nevada are financed.

Her first duty Monday will be swearing in the new state constitutional officers, including Gov. Kenny Guinn, on the steps of the state Capitol.

She will administer the oath of office in a separate ceremony to Mark Gibbons, who is newly elected to the Supreme Court, and to Bill Maupin, who was re-elected to a second term.

Agosti and Justice Miriam Shearing were both in line to serve as chief justice for the next two years. That could have been resolved by flipping a coin, but they reached an agreement that Agosti will be chief justice the first year and Shearing the second year. It will be the second time Shearing has served as chief justice.

The job of chief justice is rotated among members of the court, based on who has been in office the longest time in their present term. Agosti and Shearing are both in their fourth year and will be up for re-election in 2004.

Agosti noted that a legislative audit released earlier this year found the collection rate at Justice and Municipal courts to be 81 percent. But in the District Courts in Clark and Washoe counties, the collection rate for fines and administrative assessments for criminal cases was about 23 percent.

Agosti also cited a disparity in the collection of fines between jurisdictions, leaving a motorist with a traffic ticket facing different treatment depending on whether it is handled by a city or county court.

The Supreme Court, she said, should not be involved in this issue because a case involving the validity of the collections could come before the court for a legal decision. But a study committee, she said, could reach a consensus and make the recommendations for a uniform system of collections.

The second study will take "a snapshot of the funding and the sources of funding for every court," she said.

Justice and Municipal courts must approach either the county commissions or the city councils every year for appropriations to operate. They have "varying degrees of success," Agosti said, but no consistency.

For instance, some local courts can keep the funds from assessments while others are required to use it to offset their budgets.

The salaries of district judges are paid by the state. But county commissions must come up with the money for staff and for office space.

And there's a disparity between urban and some rural counties in the support for courts.

Unlike some other states, the Nevada Supreme Court does not control the local courts. Local autonomy is the rule in Nevada.

Agosti said she is not sure whether she would support a unified court system. But a study would provide a chance to compare budgets of courts, she said. Some courts in rural Nevada are underfunded, she said.

This study might also provide thought for a unified way of financing the judiciary, she said.

Because of the state's tight financial picture, Agosti does not intend to ask the Legislature for the money to finance the two studies. Instead, she said, she plans to seek grants and contributions.

"The bottom line of these studies is how we do our business. We will find our strengths and weaknesses," she said.

Agosti was the first woman elected to the justice court in Washoe County, where she served two years. She and Robin Wright were the first women elected to the district court in Washoe County. Agosti served 14 years in that job before running for and winning a job on the Supreme Court.

She doesn't plan any internal changes on the court, saying it "is functioning at a good level."

The court reduced the backlog of pending cases last fiscal year to 1,474, down from 1,628 in the 2000-01 fiscal year.

And there has been an absence of bitterness between justices that plagued the court in prior years, Agosti said.