Application process opens for Underfunded Courthouse Facility grants

Friday, August 25, 2023
DENVER - The Colorado Judicial Department has opened the application period for fiscal year 2023-24 grants from the Underfunded Courthouse Facility Cash Fund to provide supplemental funding for courthouse facilities projects in the Colorado counties with the most limited resources.

To be eligible for grants, counties must meet at least two of four criteria set in statute: counties whose total population is below the median among all Colorado counties; counties in which per-capita income is below the state median; counties in which property tax revenues are below the state median; and counties in which the population living below the federal poverty line is above the state median.

Approximately $5 million is available from the Colorado Underfunded Courthouse Facility Cash Fund. Forty counties meet at least two of the criteria set in statute, making them eligible for grants, and 19 of those counties are given the highest priority for grants, as they meet all the statutory criteria.

Under Colorado law, counties are responsible for building and maintaining courtrooms and other court facilities; the Judicial Department is responsible for furnishing those courthouses. The 2014 General Assembly created the grant program to help counties with the most limited financial resources ensure access to safe courthouses that allow for the efficient and effective administration of justice.

Funds from the grants may be used to pay for master planning services for a courthouse project, matching or leveraging additional funds, or to address emergency needs due to the imminent closure of a courthouse. Grant funds may not be used to pay for furniture, fixtures or equipment, and cannot be used as the sole source of funding for new construction unless the need stems from the imminent closure of a courthouse.

Application details, rules and other information on the grants may be found at www.courts.state.co.us/underfunded. 

Grant applications must be received by the Office of the State Court Administrator’s grant management system, Amplifund, by 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.  Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Please direct questions to UFF@judicial.state.co.us.