To guard against coronavirus transmission, Tarrant County has installed Plexiglas dividers around the witness stands in its courtrooms, such as this divider in the 360th District Court. Photo: Judge Patricia Baca Bennett

The face masks, gloves, wipes, thermometers and other gear that courts in Fort Worth needed to guard against COVID-19 spread and reopen safely have so far cost Tarrant County at least $244,000.

Counties across Texas have needed the same type of gear and equipment to lessen the risk of COVID-19 infection as they welcomed lawyers, litigants and other court participants back into courthouses for some limited in-person proceedings in June. Although the largest Texas counties may be able to cover the extra costs, smaller counties could struggle to find the money in their budgets.

Texas Lawyer has done a series of open records requests for invoices and payment records for the COVID-19 precautions now seen around Texas courthouses. Tarrant County released a spreadsheet and invoices that detail its spending. Meanwhile, adjacent Dallas County refused to release the records, arguing they are "judicial records" not subject to the Texas Public Information Act. Texas Lawyer has filed a complaint over that determination.

The records show that so far, Tarrant County has spent a total of $243,695 on the items it needed to reopen its courthouses.

Explore the spending: Hover over the pie chart to view dollar figures.

Source: Texas Public Information Act request to Tarrant County. Graphic: Angela Morris/ALM

Face masks made up the bulk of the spending: It was $155,673, or 64% of the total. That included surgical masks, KN-95 masks, reusable masks, and child-sized masks. Other big-ticket items included $38,400 for Plexiglas and $33,823 for stanchions, which are poles with ropes used for crowd control that are often seen in airport security lines.

Frequent wipe-downs

Judge Patricia Baca Bennett of Tarrant County's 360th Family District Court, who's been holding limited in-person proceedings for about a month now, said that she's pleased with all of the precautions that the courts have been using.

"Tarrant County facilities is wiping down: Every time someone opens a door knob, it's wiped down. Every time someone goes before a microphone, we clean it off or spray it," Bennett explained. "We have plenty of masks, we have thermometers, we have gloves, we have the Purell. They have it all for us."

She said $244,000 isn't a lot to spend if you consider the number of courts that Tarrant County runs.

"It surprised me that it was that low," Bennett said.

She said she counted 63 total courts, made up of civil, family and criminal district courts, plus their associate judges and criminal magistrates, county courts-at-law, probate courts and child support courts and justice-of-the peace courts. That would bring the cost per court down to nearly $3,900.

Budget woes

Although Texas' larger counties, including Tarrant, may be able to swallow those costs, it's different in the Lone Star State's smaller, cash-strapped counties, according to Hector Gomez, court security director for the Texas Office of Court Administration.

"It is going to place a hardship on the counties. It's an unanticipated expense or cost," said Gomez, who's been assisting counties across Texas to figure out how to secure personal protective equipment. "They have to now find that money in their budgets, move it or forgo the cost of what they were going to look at expending."

Gomez added that all of the gear and equipment that Tarrant County has been buying is exactly the "textbook, standardized equipment" that he has seen other counties requesting for their courthouses.

"They have to go seek this equipment, these supplies, at open-source vendors. If there's a supply-and-demand issue to consider, and hard-to-find items, obviously there would be a cost to pay for it," Gomez said. "When there is a run on supplies, prices tend to go up."

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