Court system trust fund working well.

State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner came to the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee bearing rare good news.

"The good news for us and for you is that the trust fund is performing quite well. It is performing so well that on November 16, the Article V Revenue Estimating Conference revised all forecasts for revenue for this year and 2010-11 upwards by a substantial amount," Goodner told the committee on December 8.

That substantial amount for 2010-11, Goodner said, is up from $214 million to $368 million.

"For 2010-11, we would tell you the trust fund looks healthy. It looks like a carry-forward balance from the 2009-10 year. There will be adequate funds coming in 2010-11 to cover all current court expenditures," Goodner said.

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"So we have a good system in place, which you put in place last year. It is doing what it was designed to do: to stabilize court funding and protect court funding in times of crisis, and to tie filing fees back to the courts."

Last year, the Legislature passed SB 2108, redirecting millions of dollars in filing fees to the courts' trust fund and giving the Legislature oversight of the clerks' court-related functions for budget purposes.

While the court budget in 2008-09 depended on general revenue funds for 92 percent of its budget and 8 percent was trust-funded, this year's 2009-10 budget is only 30 percent dependent on general revenue funds.

"The other 70 percent is all coming from trust funds," Goodner said.

"All of our operating costs are now coming from that trust fund."

But the down side is that most of that trust fund money is coming from foreclosure filings, Goodner said, and that is a temporary surplus.

For the first 10 months of 2009, Florida already had 335,994 foreclosure filings, with a clearance rate of 60 percent--and was likely to top 450,000 cases for the year, according to Office of the State Court Administrator's numbers.

Compare that with just three years ago, when foreclosure filings for all of 2006 were 73,878, and the clearance rate was 79 percent.

Also, Goodner stressed, those gains do not restore what was lost in 10 percent cuts that started in 2007 and eliminated about 300 positions statewide.

Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, chair of the committee, asked Goodner to participate in another 10-percent budget reduction...