Blair County court administration presents budget proposal

Administration proposes operating budget of about $1.1M

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Blair County court administration presented its proposed operating budget of about $1.1 million to county commissioners during Tuesday afternoon's budget meeting.

The amount would cover everything from pay for court-appointed attorneys to Zoom licenses. President Judge Wade A. Kagarise told commissioners Amy Webster and Laura Burke that the 2027 budget would give the county a good idea as to what to expect from court administration's budget line items in the future as "this year and next year are the first two years we've had five judges" in nearly a decade.

"With the case load as it is and the amount of activity, this year and next year is going to tell us a lot," Kagarise said.

One of the first line items questioned by the commissioners was the court administration's request for 12 individual Zoom licenses and six Polycom Zoom licenses for $2,580 and $2,880, respectively.

Kagarise said they were increasing their license request from the previous year as "we struggle because we have limited licenses."

"It causes us situations where we end up transporting people because we don't have enough licenses," Kagarise said, noting it would be "money well spent" if they saved on those transportation costs.

The goal, Kagarise said, would be to have a license for every magisterial district judge, common pleas judge and an extra for court administration itself to ensure "everybody has the ability to do a video conference on their own."

Webster asked why court administration was specifically asking for Zoom licenses when the county was transitioning to Microsoft Teams, and Kagarise said it was what the state Department of Corrections required.

"If we don't have a license for the right thing, which is Zoom right now, we could be at risk of not being able to do those Department of Corrections hearings," Kagarise said.

He added that court administration has been keeping track of the number of inmates at the Blair County Prison awaiting the resolution of their cases who are also being held on state parole detainers.

"Traditionally, the way the state operates is if people are in jail with us and they have a state parole detainer, then they stay here because their case is pending here," Kagarise said.

If the court finds it appropriate and the district attorney's office "doesn't object," bails have been lowered on a case-by-case basis for some of those people "so the state comes and gets them," Kagarise said. "It takes them out of our prison, even though our case is not over with."

With the additional Zoom licenses, the court would be able to do more of those proceedings. The alternative would be to continue transporting those inmates "back-and-forth," Kagarise said, increasing those costs.

"The list is pretty heavy right now; it's got 15 people," Kagarise said. "So that's a decent amount of people trying to get moved."

The commissioners also addressed the court administration's request for about $200,000 to be set aside for court-appointed experts and outside court reporting services. When Webster asked about the previously budgeted amount, Burke said it was about $75,667.

Kagarise said the court would be trying a death penalty case in 2027, and the two court-appointed attorneys for that case would cost about $50,000. He added that the county only had one lawyer who is death penalty-certified and that another death penalty-certified attorney traveled to the area from Clearfield County.

"Right now, there are no death penalty-certified attorneys in the public defender's office," Kagarise said. "That's the first time in my career without someone in the public defender's office that's qualified."

He already spoke with Chief Public Defender Julia Burke on having someone get qualified and also reached out to the Blair County Bar Association "asking for more people to be certified," Kagarise said. But if another death penalty case pops up "anytime in the next couple months," the court will have to appoint someone.

Commissioner David Kessling was absent from Tuesday's meeting. The next county budget session is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday in the commissioner's meeting room in the courthouse basement.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.