The Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller’s budget has three (3) separate and distinct sources of funding. The three (3) sources are allocated across the Clerk’s court and non-court functions as follows:
Non-Court Budget – County Recorder and Comptroller
The Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller in Collier County is a fee officer, and, as such, related budgets are prepared in accordance with Florida Statutes, Section 218.35.
- The fees budgeted and earned by the Clerk for County recording services have historically fully funded the cost of providing those services.
- County Comptroller functions such as Finance, including accounts payable, payroll, investment of surplus funds and financial reporting, as well as Board Minutes and Records and all related information technology needs are funded by the Board of County Commissioners. The Clerk’s fiscal year 2026 non-Court Budget is made up of 80% personnel services (salaries and benefits) and 20% operating and capital costs and conforms to the Board’s budget policy cap of 3.0%. Any unused, or excess fees, as of the end of the year, are returned to the Board of County Commissioners. The requested General Fund transfer for FY 2027 is $16,119,600 which includes $921,400 in funding to support court operations that should be funded by the Clerk of Courts Operations Corporation (CCOC).
Court Budget – Clerk of the Circuit Court
Pursuant to Florida Statutes, Section 218.36 the Clerk’s balanced court budget is required to be submitted to the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation (CCOC) by June 1 of each year. The court fees budgeted and earned by the Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court have historically fully funded the Clerk’s court budget. Unused, or excess court fees collected, are remitted to the State of Florida. Unfortunately, some Clerks in the State are unable to meet their funding requirements and must be subsidized by those Clerks that remit excess court fees. The Clerk will submit a balanced FY 2027 budget to the CCOC by June 1, 2026.