Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs juvenile detention cost-share bill, dismissing Manatee lawsuit

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill into law Tuesday that establishes a 50-50 split of juvenile detention costs between the state and non-fiscally constrained counties, which includes Manatee.

The bill also corrects a backwards way those counties used to pay the Department of Juvenile Justice for their services, with the DJJ estimating their costs for the year, billing the counties for their share of the estimate, assessing actual costs for the services at the end of the year, and then either reimbursing the county or demanding more money to make up the difference.

That caused a lot of diffi

culty with budgeting, said Manatee County Commission Chairwoman Vanessa Baugh, who called Scott's signing the bill into law "awesome."

"It's been very difficult. We never really knew how much it was going to cost, and it just kept going up and up and up," Baugh said. "Now we can budget for it. We have a cost that we know what it's going to cost."

Scott said in a statement he was proud to sign the "important legislation."

The new system phases in gradually. Non-fiscally constrained counties in Florida paid a total of $54.3 million for juvenile detention in 2015-16 and will pay $42.5 million in 2016-17, with the $11.8 million difference being covered by the state. In the following years counties will be required to pay 50 percent of juvenile detention costs for the prior fiscal year.

Scott's signing the bill not only creates the new budgeting system, but also means lawsuits filed by multiple Florida counties over the operation of the old system will be thrown out. Baugh said she believes all counties involved in the lawsuit signed a letter stating they would drop legal challenges if this law passed.

A letter signed by the Manatee County Commission on Feb. 4 to Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, the bill's sponsor, said they would abandon the lawsuit if his bill became law.

"The County Commission is agreeable to dismissing its claims on the additional contingency that any efforts by the County Commission or the Department of Juvenile Justice to collect any perceived overpayments or underpayments for years prior to fiscal year 2015-16 would be abandoned and that the new allocation of costs set forth in your legislation would be utilized going forward," the letter said.

DJJ Secretary Christina Daly said she is glad to have a solution to the long dispute.

"I am thrilled that today represents a new beginning for the partnership between the Department and the counties in our focus on how we can best serve Florida's children and their families," she wrote in a release Tuesday.

Baugh said trying to recover money owed to the county by the DJJ would have been difficult. Dismissing the lawsuit means Manatee could save on those legal fees, in addition to money saved by being able to budget for juvenile detention costs properly.

"It's just a good move all the way around for Manatee," Baugh said.

Kate Irby, Herald online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055. You can follow her on Twitter @KateIrby

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs juvenile detention cost-share bill, dismissing Manatee lawsuit ."