Court Funds Case Study: Jury Payments
Nestled in the Delaware Valley region of Pennsylvania lies Chester County. Founded in 1682, Chester County has a population of more than 500,000 residents and consistently ranks among the top places to live in the U.S.
On top of assessing fines, collecting restitution, and much more, Chester County’s Clerk of Court handles an average of 11 jury trials each month, resulting in approximately 485 juror payments per month.
Challenge
Chester County was using a manual payment system prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that required printing checks and stuffing them into envelopes for mailing, presenting three large issues, the first being efficiency. “It used to take three jury clerks the majority of a Friday to process payments,” says Sara Wolfgang, a senior administrative specialist with Chester County who oversees the jury staff.
Other inefficiencies? Escheatment and end-of-the-year reconciliation.
“On top of your normal workload, it would take a couple of weeks to get all of that resolved,” notes Wolfgang.
Lastly, recurring accounting issues, along with the average price of a paper check costing around $7.78¹ each, the rising cost of postage, reissuing checks due to fraud or loss, and having to worry about unclaimed funds were the straws that broke the proverbial camel’s back.
Chester County knew it was time for a change.
I am happy we used the Court Funds debit cards and we did not have to mail out checks during the pandemic. We never had to experience [lost or delayed mail] because we switched to Court Funds and we were giving people their cards immediately. I couldn’t imagine mailing people their checks during that span of time. That probably would’ve been a nightmare.
Bethany Roberts
Senior Administrative Specialist, Chester County
Solution
Chester County realized changes needed to be made to how they processed payments to jurors, which is why they turned to Tyler’s Court Funds digital disbursements solution.
There was a lot riding on the successful implementation of Court Funds. Members of the county’s jury staff left, further complicating things and further raising the stakes that Court Funds needed to be a success.
Chester County went live with Court Funds in August 2020.
Surely implementing a new payment disbursement system while being down two jury staff members would be time consuming, risky, and tedious, right?
Not exactly.
“Even when we went live, the time added was so minimal,” Roberts recalls. “And for the benefits of using the Court Funds cards and not the checks anymore, it’s not even on the same plane.”
“We were trying to juggle 18 things at once and we still went live with very few hiccups,” adds Wolfgang.
One of the best parts? Court Funds seamlessly integrates with Chester County’s jury management software: Tyler’s Enterprise Jury Manager, which provides convenience and flexibility for jurors and court employees alike.
Being able to bring our jury clerks down to court administration and involved in other projects instead of only dealing with jurors has helped with job satisfaction.
Sara Wolfgang
Senior Administrative Specialist, Chester County
Results
What’s the difference now?
For starters, the cost of loading debit cards is around the cost of a postage stamp, a far cry from the cost of issuing paper checks. Sure, jurors can still ask for a paper check, but that’s an exception now.
Second, not only was there a problem with the amount of time it took to process paper checks, but there was also the matter of lost mail, including jury summons. “I am happy we used the Court Funds debit cards and we did not have to mail out checks during the pandemic,” recalls Bethany Roberts, senior administrative specialist with Chester County. “We never had to experience that because we switched to Court Funds and we were giving people their cards immediately. I couldn’t imagine mailing people their checks during that span of time. That probably would’ve been a nightmare.”
Jurors now receive their card the same day as their service, with the funds being loaded at the end of their service week. Those on a grand jury receive text and email alerts when their payment has been loaded onto their card.
What about job satisfaction?
“Being able to bring our jury clerks down to court administration and involved in other projects instead of only dealing with jurors has helped with job satisfaction,” says Wolfgang.
Apart from saving money and making the payment process easier and more efficient for everyone, Court Funds has also helped make the response rate to jury summons in Chester County very high as well thanks to texts sent to jurors reminding them of their jury duty date.
What’s one thing Roberts and Wolfgang want you to know about Court Funds?
“It’s going to be much easier than you probably think and it’s going to save you much more time than you probably think,” advises Wolfgang.
“It doesn’t take as long as you think it’s going to,” Roberts confirms.
¹Aberdeen Group.