SACRAMENTO (CN) - In his first round of big changes to California's court bureaucracy, new director Martin Hoshino answered a scathing report from the state auditor with a series of reforms that included eliminating a lavish pension benefit for the top brass.
The controversial perk was cut back in 2012 by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, but top executives were still receiving another 22% in pension contributions from public funds on top of their salaries, including Chief Operating Officer Curt Childs, Chief Administrative Officer Curt Soderlund and Chief of Staff Jody Patel.
The pension benefit for the top officials caught the attention of the California State Auditor, who honed in on the perk in a scathing report released in January after a nearly year-long investigation of the bureaucracy, formerly known as the Administrative Office of the Courts. The new director said the benefit would end July 1st.
At Thursday's meeting of the Judicial Council, Hoshino, who took over the job as director of the bureaucracy in September 2014, gave a brief update on the staff's progress in implementing the auditor's recommendations in anticipation of a 60-day progress report due to the auditor on March 7.
He said that several other perks noted by the auditor had also been cut, like parking reimbursements for executives, and the staff's fleet of 66 vehicles. Hoshino said 22 of those vehicles were eliminated, and that he planned a cost-benefit analysis of the remaining 44, which he said are primarily used in maintaining the state's 500 courthouses.
After listening to Hoshino's report, retired Judge Charles Horan of Los Angeles said in an email that he expected more changes.
"The cessation of paid pension benefits (which will not occur until July, when it should have stopped years ago), the paring of the AOC fleet of vehicles from 66 to 44, and the cessation of parking allowances was low hanging fruit," he said. "The important parts of the auditor's recommendations were not addressed today, including the up to $300 million spent by the AOC from trial court funds on activities that arguably should have been paid for from the AOC's own internal budget."
Horan was referring to the auditor's finding that the AOC could have paid consultants and temporary employees out of its own budget, but used trial court funds instead.
"Over the past four years, the AOC spent $386 million on behalf of the trial courts including $186 million in payments to consultants, contractors, and temporary employees using the trial courts local assistance appropriations; however, the AOC could have paid a portion of these costs using its own appropriation," the auditor wrote.
Horan added that it was strange that Hoshino made the announcement about the end to staff executive benefits, as opposed to the council.
"The Council is the body that should be making these decisions, as pointed out by the auditor," said Horan. "It seems that that message has not yet worked its way into the Council's thinking."
In her report, Auditor Elaine Howle also pointed to five Judicial Council staff employees who worked in Sacramento, but because of "poor record-keeping," were paid above the maximum salary range for that area. On Thursday, Hoshino said that problem had been fixed.
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