Circuit court budget request shows small net change but higher wage costs

St. Croix County staff walked supervisors through the circuit court budget, noting the overall request is essentially flat compared with the prior year but that wage and benefit lines rose. "For circuit court, they requested, 1,148,000... last year, they had asked for what they got, 1,146,000," staff said, adding that net wages and fringes rose by roughly $50,000 largely due to step adjustments and benefit changes.

The presenter emphasized that departments have limited control over wages and benefits because those are set by county systems, and pointed supervisors to operating-line changes that explain the rest of the variance. Staff said the drop in operating costs is linked to changes in court commissioner contracting this year versus prior arrangements.