Section 120.18. Reimbursement of county

(A) The county public defender commission's report to the board of county commissioners shall be audited by the county auditor. The board of county commissioners, after review and approval of the audited report, may then certify it to the state public defender for reimbursement. If a request for the reimbursement of any operating expenditure incurred by a county public defender office is not received by the state public defender within sixty days after the end of the calendar month in which the expenditure is incurred, the state public defender shall not pay the requested reimbursement, unless the county has requested, and the state public defender has granted, an extension of the sixty-day time limit. Each request for reimbursement shall include a certification by the county public defender that the persons provided representation by the county public defender's office during the period covered by the report were indigent and, for each person provided representation during that period, a financial disclosure form completed by the person on a form prescribed by the state public defender. The state public defender shall also review the report and, in accordance with the standards, guidelines, and maximums established pursuant to divisions (B)(7) and (8) of section 120.04 of the Revised Code, prepare a voucher for fifty per cent of the total cost of each county public defender's office for the period of time covered by the certified report and a voucher for fifty per cent of the costs and expenses that are reimbursable under section 120.35 of the Revised Code, if any, or, if the amount of money appropriated by the general assembly to reimburse counties for the operation of county public defender offices, joint county public defender offices, and county appointed counsel systems is not sufficient to pay fifty per cent of the total cost of all of the offices and systems, for the lesser amount required by section 120.34 of the Revised Code. For the purposes of this section, "total cost" means total expenses minus costs and expenses reimbursable under section 120.35 of the Revised Code and any funds received by the county public defender commission pursuant to a contract, except a contract entered into with a municipal corporation pursuant to division (E) of section 120.14 of the Revised Code, gift, or grant.

(B) If the county public defender fails to maintain the standards for the conduct of the office established by rules of the Ohio public defender commission pursuant to divisions (B) and (C) of section 120.03 or the standards established by the state public defender pursuant to division (B)(7) of section 120.04 of the Revised Code, the Ohio public defender commission shall notify the county public defender commission and the board of county commissioners of the county that the county public defender has failed to comply with its rules or the standards of the state public defender. Unless the county public defender commission or the county public defender corrects the conduct of the county public defender's office to comply with the rules and standards within ninety days after the date of the notice, the state public defender may deny payment of all or part of the county's reimbursement from the state provided for in division (A) of this section.

Effective Date: 09-29-1999