It cost Schuylkill County $20,226.92 last year to hire interpreters for non-English speaking people involved in court cases.

The need for interpreters is rising, and so is the cost. In 2014, the county spent $18,000 for translators, said court administrator Lois A. Wallauer."We're not sure whether it will level out in 2016," she said.On Wednesday, commissioners agreed to apply for a state grant that would reimburse the county $6,742, about one-third of the cost of hiring interpreters in 2015.State lawmakers for the first time have set aside $1.5 million to defray some of counties' costs. The money would come from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, an arm of the Supreme Court."The primary purpose of the interpreter costs are criminal proceedings," she said.For example, an interpreter translated for Luis Ramos Nunez-Calderon's four-day murder trial last April.Calderone, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Wendy Contreras-Hernandez of Shenandoah on April 29, 2014, is from the Dominican Republic, and does not speak English.The services, also provided for those who are deaf, are included under the Pennsylvania Interpreter Act and the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.The interpreters must be chosen from a list of certified translators supplied by the AOPC.Under the Pennsylvania Interpreter Act, the county is required to pay for translators, who are appointed by the courts.That includes travel and lodgings, Wallauer said.Schuylkill makes every effort to use interpreters who are close by, she said.However, there was a recent request for an interpreter who spoke Urdu, and the closest one was in Philadelphia."But that's rare," Wallauer said.