Rock County board approves $20 court surcharge and creates Crime Prevention Funding Board

The Rock County Board of Supervisors voted to add a $20 surcharge on qualifying criminal convictions and to create a seven-member Crime Prevention Funding Board that will recommend how the money is spent.

The ordinance creating Rock County Ordinance 3.221 and the companion resolution establishing the Crime Prevention Funding Board passed after debate and a roll-call vote on the ordinance (14–10) and a subsequent voice vote creating the board.

Supporters said the surcharge will generate money that would otherwise flow to state accounts and instead be reinvested locally. District Attorney Rich Sanders told supervisors a statutory split requires 50% of collected funds each year be given to nonprofit organizations with stated crime-prevention missions and said the board would be able to respond to community requests for small grants. “If, for example, the Beloit Police Department wants a thousand dollars to help a human-trafficking task force then I’m assuming that would be a yes,” Sanders said.

Opponents and several supervisors questioned whether the surcharge would…