Merged Carefree, Cave Creek courts could be running soon

By Philip Haldiman and Sonja HallerThe Republic | azcentral.comFri Oct 11, 2013 10:42 AM

Cave Creek and Carefree will now share one court as a result of the towns’ approval of an intergovernmental agreement.

The agreement calls for Carefree to provide municipal court services for Cave Creek, and for the combined Cave Creek-Carefree Court to be housed in the Cave Creek Council chambers.

The presiding judge of Maricopa County Superior Court has also preliminarily approved the agreement.

Officials say the consolidated court could begin operation at the end of this year.

The agreement was approved by both communities, and consolidation received broad support from the Carefree Council, passing the agreement unanimously.

“Our goal here is reduce the deficit for both communities,” said Gary Neiss, Carefree’s town administrator.

While both communities discussed the possibility of a merger in 2009, negotiations fell apart.

“I think the game changer here is the acknowledgment by Cave Creek that the Carefree court has a high performance rating while the Cave Creek court does not,” Neiss said.

A September 2013 assessment of Cave Creek’s court by the Arizona Supreme Court Administrative Office of the Courts found several issues that needed to be corrected. Among them was that the court assessed costs without a local ordinance authorizing the costs and that the presiding judge was present to conduct court business for “just a few hours one day each week.”

The assessment looked at the court’s practices in place beginning in July 2012.

Carefree’s last court assessment, in 2008, found overall compliance with record keeping, financial management and court-ordered enforcement but asked for stricter compliance in assessing incarceration costs to a defendant.

The Cave Creek Council also approved the consolidation 6-1 but not without some concerns from interim Town Magistrate Lawrence Scaringelli.

He said town officials did not discuss the consolidation with court officials, nor allow them to provide input on the changes.

Scaringelli claimed that court revenues in recent years have consistently been higher than the estimated revenue stream of $66,000 for this fiscal year, bringing in as much as $168,000 in fiscal 2009-10.

Past revenue streams in Cave Creek are closer to the revenue of $115,000 Carefree has estimated for this year’s budget, according to Scaringelli’s numbers.

“I may lose my job over this, but your numbers don’t add up,” Scaringelli said.

However, most council members concurred with strong confidence in the data Finance Director Weddigen provided supporting the court consolidation.

Mayor Vincent Francia questioned Weddigen “twice about the accuracy of the numbers,” and put his support behind the intergovernmental agreement.

Cave Creek Interim Town Manager Rodney Glassman said it costs the town about $334,300 to run the town’s court, according to the fiscal 2014 budget.

Now that the merger has been approved, it could cost the town as little as $146,196 annually, not including tenant improvements, he said.

After the first 1,000 cases a year, the town will contribute $78 per case.

Carefree had 940 cases last year while Cave Creek had a little more than 1,000.

Carefree officials anticipate their overall costs from consolidation will be about $490,000. This includes salaries and benefits for court staff, all contractual positions such as judge, public defender, interpreter, prosecutor and bailiff, as well as software updates, office supplies, ongoing training requirements and other general administrative expenses.

Carefree, however, will receive all revenue the court brings in from both towns.

To cover Carefree’s move, Cave Creek will pay a monthly transition fee of $2,666 over the next two years.

Cave Creek will cover tenant improvements to the courthouse through its Court Enhancement Fund, and Carefree will make all staffing decisions.

The consolidated court will be open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Currently the Cave Creek Municipal Court hears cases every other week, Glassman said.

Also, Carefree will be required to provide monthly reports of court activity as well as an annual financial audit to Cave Creek.