U.S. Courts

The General Services Administration (GSA) is struggling financially to provide courtrooms and related space for the growing number of new judges. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has requested that the Courts be given independent authority to acquire its own space and facilities. Under a suggested user fee concept, the Courts would collect a fee from all litigants to offset costs of capital projects, such as the construction of new courthouses, or alterations of other government-owned buildings housing the Courts. Concerns have been raised that user fees would increase the cost of filing a case--potentially preventing those who believe that they have legitimate complaints from using the judicial system. Using three estimates of capital costs and the three levels of federal court cases filed, GAO estimates that user fees would range from $79 to $536 per case. This report also provides information on the amount of GSA space, revenues, and costs that are attributable to the Courts and information on the Courts' obligations, numbers of judgeships, revenues, and case filings.

GAO found that: (1) using three capital cost estimates and three levels of filed federal court cases, GAO estimated that user fees would range between $79 and $536 per case; (2) between 1988 and 1992, GSA budgeted about $1.3 billion to meet the courts' capital investment needs and about $707 million to operate and maintain existing court space; (3) according to Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) estimates, the courts' reimbursable payments for alterations between 1988 and 1992 totalled about $232 million; (4) using a yearly average of GSA capital and operating costs and the courts' reimbursable payments, the government's total court facilities costs averaged about $447 million annually between 1988 and 1992; (5) remaining issues regarding filing fees included whether the government would be required to pay the fee and whether persons filing cases would be able pay the fee; and (6) during fiscal year 1990, the courts collected $278.1 million in court costs, fees, and fines, including filing fees, but although the courts are not currently using such revenues to pay for court facilities costs, AOUSC retained $47.2 million to offset judiciary operating costs.