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Municipal judge reports sharp rise in citations and court revenue
Summary
Municipal Judge Steve Wimmer told the Finance Committee tickets issued have risen sharply since 2023, with revenues up accordingly; he said traffic offenses now make up the majority of the court’s caseload and described implications for personnel and court scheduling.
Municipal Judge Steve Wimmer told the Finance Committee on Oct. 16 that the municipal court has seen a substantial increase in citations and related revenue over the past two years.
Wimmer said the court issued about 5,435 tickets in 2023, roughly a little over 7,000 in 2022, and 9,219 in 2024. Through the meeting date in 2025 the court had recorded 9,799 tickets year‑to‑date; he said that pace would extrapolate to about 12,374 tickets for the year if sustained. "That is a substantial increase, almost two and a half times from 2023," Wimmer said.
Wimmer attributed much of the caseload to traffic enforcement: he estimated 60–70% of tickets seen on a typical Wednesday are traffic violations (speeding, failing to stop at signs or signals). He told committee members that typical Wednesday dockets see 40–60 people in court and that about 20–25% of tickets lead to an initial appearance in court rather than a paid fine or pretrial settlement.
On revenues, Wimmer noted the court’s year‑to‑date revenue through September and said the amount the court retains was $6,698,111. He also described a year‑end extrapolation figure of about $930,816 for revenue that the court 'gets to keep' under current trends, but cautioned that extrapolation depends on whether the pace of citations continues.
Wimmer described the court's staffing and scheduling adjustments to handle heavier caseloads, including moving juvenile court to Monday afternoons to reduce conflicts with adult trials and referring some matters to pretrial processes. "Our staff does a fabulous job of keeping up with everything," he said, and he credited his clerk for compiling the revenue and ticket breakdown.
Committee members asked whether the police department had an explanation for the increase in citations; Wimmer said that question should be directed to police, noting he would only be speculating about enforcement policy. Alderman Molson asked what percentage of tickets actually require court action; Wimmer estimated 40–60 people appear in court each week and about 20–25% of tickets lead to initial appearances.
Next steps: Committee members asked the police department to be prepared to address enforcement causes if the council or committee asks for further explanation of the citation rise and its fiscal implications.
