ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the term unified budgeting assumes that the courts in a state judicial system are financed by the state government. It reviews the purposes and processes of budgeting in governmental organizations primarily in the executive branch as they have developed since the turn of the century. Modern budgeting practices developed in the executive branch long before they were applied to the judiciary, and as such, provide the model for analysis of unified court budgeting. D. Axelrod, a long-term practitioner and academician, has identified eight functions of the budget process, four of which are pertinent to funding court systems. These functions are allocating resources to achieve objectives, holding operating agencies accountable for efficient and effective use of resources, controlling expenditures and providing leverage to force effective and efficient management. The practice of unified court budgeting varies among the states, depending in part upon the relationships between and among the judicial, executive, and legislative branches of government within a state.
