Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Court Fees Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Madison County delays adoption of statewide court fee schedule pending legal review
Summary
The Board postponed an ordinance to adopt revised civil filing fees and criminal/traffic assessments required under 2018 state law, asking county counsel and the chief judge for legal guidance on permissible uses of discretionary fee allocations before a special meeting.
The Judiciary Committee presented an ordinance to implement the 2018 statewide changes to civil filing fees and criminal and traffic assessments (following the Clerks of Courts Act and the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act). The ordinance enumerated new schedules for civil filing fees, appearance fees, miscellaneous clerk charges and assessment distributions for felony, misdemeanor and traffic categories.
Several Board members asked for legal clarification on how the county may use discretionary funds designated in the schedules. County Board member Tom McRae specifically requested research on whether discretionary portions of fee revenue could fund capital projects such as courthouse or jail maintenance.
"Can we use any of that money for capital projects like maintenance of the Courthouse or Jail improvements?" McRae asked, prompting County counsel to confirm the request for a focused legal opinion. The Board voted to postpone the ordinance and directed staff and counsel to research the statutory allocations and return with recommendations so the ordinance can be implemented before vendor software deadlines.
Next steps: County legal counsel and the Chief Judge will be asked to produce the requested opinion in short order; a special committee meeting and potentially a special Board meeting may be scheduled to adopt a final ordinance before the software vendor's implementation deadline.
