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Supervisors hear proposal for $3 courthouse construction fee to fund courthouse work
Summary
The board held a public hearing on an ordinance to add a $3 assessment on court cases to finance construction, reconstruction or renovation of the county courthouse; officials estimated annual revenue in the low five figures but took no final vote on spending.
The Nottoway County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on an ordinance to impose a $3 courthouse construction fee on each civil, criminal and traffic case filed in the district or circuit courts, to be collected by the clerk and remitted to the county treasurer for courthouse capital projects.
A county representative described the draft ordinance as an amendment to “Article 11, Section 11352 of the Code of Virginia of Nottoway” and cited a provision of state law governing such assessments. The assessment would apply to civil actions with amounts in controversy of $500 or less and to criminal or traffic cases in which the defendant is charged with a statutory or ordinance violation; the money would be held by the treasurer and disbursed by the board solely for courthouse construction, reconstruction, renovation or adaptive use of a courthouse structure.
Officials estimated the fee could generate “somewhere in the neighborhood” of $9,000 to $15,000 annually. No members of the public signed up to speak. The board opened and then closed the hearing by motion and discussed no changes; a supervisor asked whether $3 is the maximum allowable amount and was told the amount is established by statute.
Discussion versus decision: the hearing was a formal step to solicit public comment; supervisors did not appropriate funds or adopt a final ordinance at the meeting. The board will keep the proposed assessment available for further consideration in its ordinance and budget process.
