December 14, 2006
Re: fees sent to State by city courts
Dear Captain,
You have asked me to list out the fees/funds which city courts send into the state. As we
discussed, there are only a few such items, sent in under different circumstances. MTAS legal
consultants have determined that funds for the Trust Fund administered by the Department of
Health do not have to be collected by city court clerks. If your city wants to keep charging those
fees and forwarding them onto the state, you may certainly do so, but in our opinion city court’s
are not legally required to collect those amounts and send them into the state. I have sent with
this letter a copy of the legal opinion of our Senior Legal Consultant Sid Hemsley on the issue of
the Trust Fund.
Following is a brief list of those fees/funds which city courts send to the State:
$1 to Admin. Office of the Courts
Send for any case in which you
collect court costs, regardless of
amount collected.
$13.75 litigation tax to Revenue
Collect if the defendant pleads guilty,
“submits to a fine,” or is found guilty
by the court. Also applies if
defendant fails to appear and is
found guilty by default.
Fines for child restraint/seatbelt violations
All such fines only go to the state,
and cannot be kept by the city.
I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you need anything further.
Sincerely,
Melissa A. Ashburn
Legal Consultant