The Limestone County Courthouse closed to the public March 19, and with the closure came a drop in revenue that the district attorney’s office relies on to stay in operation, an official said Tuesday.

Limestone County District Attorney Brian Jones said about two-thirds of a DA’s operating costs are paid through funds collected from court costs, fees, local funds and other programs. With courtrooms closed and in-person hearings postponed during the coronavirus pandemic, much of the revenue that a DA’s office relies on to cover day-to-day expenses is no longer there.

Jones said at the minimum, his office needs to collect around $32,000 a month. Compared to this time last year, there’s been a $70,000 drop in revenue from criminal court.

The money they would normally collect helps pay for office supplies, books, case preparation, upgrading or maintaining office equipment, travel expenses and fees for expert witnesses. Jones said the state provides payroll funding, but even that doesn’t fully cover the cost to keep his office staffed, and they’ve had to accommodate in some cases by leaving open positions unfilled.

“I get absolutely no money from the state of Alabama to actually physically run the operation,” he said.

The state of Alabama has 41 judicial districts across its 67 counties. In all but one, the district attorney is responsible for up to five counties. The 10th Judicial District, which covers Jefferson County, has two — one of the Birmingham division, and the other for the Bessemer division.

Jones said district attorneys make up the only state agency that has to raise so much of its staff and operational budget through local collections. Even after courts reopen, he said it won’t be easy to recuperate the revenue loss.

“We’ve cut everything we can think of” to save money in the meantime, he said. In addition to not hiring new people, Jones said they’ve transitioned most of their operations to a digital format to cut paperwork costs. They’ve avoided furloughs and layoffs so far, but victims services officers and support staff are working from home as much as possible, and lawyers alternate the days on which they work from the office.

What few hearings they are able to have are conducted via video call, Jones said.

County buildings are due to reopen Monday, and there’s been talk of “feathering in” cases to handle the backlog of cases. Major criminal cases that were scheduled during the closure will have to be rescheduled, and there’s still the matter of small claims court, traffic court, drug court, jury selections and more.

“We’ve had many discussions about how to change the flow of the courthouse,” Jones said, including how people enter and exit the building.

He said he often talks with other district attorneys to exchange ideas and discuss how best to get back in the courtroom once they’re given permission to do so.

“There’s no user manual for this,” he said. “When I went through district attorney orientation, there was no chapter on pandemics.”

Officials have encouraged residents to exercise patience as local governments ease back into reopening. Even though the building is closed to in-person visits from members of the public, employees are still available by phone to answer questions about payments.

While the idea of not having the funds to pay those employees might be distressing, Jones said fees and costs will not suddenly skyrocket to offset the expense. For starters, “I can’t just push a button and the fee goes up,” he said.

He said there will be a grace period for those that are unable to make a payment during the pandemic, but office staff will continue working to recover court costs, restitution and other fees. He encouraged the public to continue paying their fees and costs as scheduled.