Greene County Judge brings in over $400,000 to county
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By Carmen Ensinger
When one thinks of a Circuit Court Judge, they think of someone doling out justice – not successfully writing grants that bring in almost half a million dollars over a four-year period.
Greene County Circuit Court Judge Zachary Schmidt addressed the Judiciary Committee last week about the grant funds procured by his office for the coming year.
“We applied for and were approved for grants that totaled $176,662.25 for fiscal year 2025,” he said. “A large chunk of that – $80,000, is going for electronically scanning in probate cases in the Circuit Clerk’s Office.”
In total, from 2022 through 2025, Judge Schmidt has applied for numerous grants through the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, specifically technology grants. These grants total $428,221.42.
“It has been a great program for Greene County and will help set up the internet for the probation department in the new building as well,” he said. “It is really great that they are offering this program.”
Through this grant program, the courthouse has been able to procure the following: new computers in the courtrooms and law library, new printer and copiers in both courtrooms, updates to the speaker system, installation of some security cameras and the purchase of four hearing aid devices in the courtroom.
They were also able to purchase a smart board for the small courtroom and two new evidence display televisions along with a document projector. The clerk’s office was able to purchase scanners for documents and they were able to update wifi capabilities added to their network security and replaced outdated hardware for routers, battery backups and network switches.
Judge Schmidt said the best part about it is that the size of the county doesn’t seem to matter.
“When we applied for this grant, I thought that Greene County was so small that they wouldn’t give us much funding but they don’t seem to take that into account,” he said. “The size of your county doesn’t seem to make a difference to them, which is nice.”
