DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa Judicial Branch says it is working fast to resolve what it calls an IT issue that caused a $53 million misallocation of funds. But questions remain on what happens to that misallocated funding and why it took so long for the public and even members of the state government to become aware of the issue.
In a statement Friday, the Judicial Branch said it is in the midst of correcting programming errors it has identified that led to some funds being shorted millions of dollars while others received millions more than they should have. It did not give a timeline for correcting the issues or how it could remedy previous misdistributions.
The issue dates back to legislative changes in 2020 and 2021 that changed how the Iowa Judicial Branch distributes the roughly $140 million in court debt and fines collected each year. By at least 2022, some of those agencies and funds that receive that funding noticed discrepancies. The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Road Use Tax Fund is short about $10 million, The victim compensation fund is short $3.7 million and the juvenile detention home fund received $3.5 million less than expected. In all, $26.6 million was underpaid to various funds with an equal amount of overpayments to other funds. Those funds include state and local government agencies in Iowa…