Cape sees drop in revenue from municipal court fines; city writing fewer tickets

Cape Girardeau’s municipal court fines have generated less revenue for the city in recent years because of fewer court cases.

City finance director John Richbourg said the drop in revenue is the result of fewer tickets being written for ordinance violations.

“The number of cases has gone down,” he said.

In 2006, more than 13,000 tickets were issued.

By 2013, the number of tickets had dropped to fewer than 7,800. In 2015, municipal court handled just over 6,500 cases, city finance records show.

Unlike some Missouri cities, Cape Girardeau doesn’t use its municipal court as an essential moneymaker.

“We are not one of those speed-trap cities,” Richbourg said.

Municipal courts in several cities in St. Louis County have been accused of being money machines.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Justice last year called the city of Ferguson’s police department a collection agency for a “constitutionally deficient” court.

The federal government report noted Ferguson was not alone in its practices. The Justice Department said it was a case study for how other municipal police departments and courts are run.

Municipal courts generated more than $52 million for cities in St. Louis County in 2014, according to a news account.

But Cape Girardeau’s municipal court fines historically have played a relatively small role in terms of generating revenue, budget figures show.

The fiscal 2017 budget projects municipal court revenue will account for only 2.7 percent of the city’s general fund, which is the city’s major operating account.

And the amount of fine revenue has decreased significantly.

In fiscal 2012, municipal court fines and court fees generated more than $1 million.

By fiscal 2014, revenue had dropped to about $810,000.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, annual revenue from fines and court fees had fallen to less than $767,000, city finance records show.

For the new fiscal year that began July 1, Richbourg projects fines and court fees will bring in about $756,000 in revenue. Traffic violations account for the bulk of the court cases.

In fiscal 2015, non-traffic offenses accounted for more than $131,000 in fines, or less than a fourth of total fine revenue, city records show.

“We don’t put a focus on writing traffic tickets,” Cape Girardeau police chief Wes Blair said.

He said his officers have discretion on whether to write tickets.

Blair, who was hired as police chief in 2013, said his officers have responded to an increasing number of calls for everything from shots fired to loud music.

“Calls for service have steadily gone up,” he said.

Cape Girardeau police do traffic enforcement in specific neighborhoods in an effort to reduce traffic accidents.

But the goal never has been to write more tickets, Blair said.

Traffic enforcement, he said, includes issuing warnings.

“You have some cities where chiefs feel pressure to write more citations,” Blair said, adding that is not the case in Cape Girardeau.

Sgt. Adam Glueck, the police department’s public-information officer, said there is no mandate from the police chief regarding the issuance of citations.

“We don’t have any quotas,” he said.

Richbourg, the finance director, said when the cost of running the municipal court is factored in, the court provides net revenue to the city of more than $400,000.

In fiscal year 2015, the city spent more than $302,000 operating municipal court, with labor costs accounting for the majority of those expenses.

The court operates with a five-member staff, which includes a judge, chief court clerk, court clerk, violations clerk and administrative clerk.

Personnel costs are budgeted at more than $262,000 for the current fiscal year.

City attorney Eric Cunningham said the city doesn’t view municipal court as a way to generate revenue.

“The city’s only real desire is to enforce the council’s ordinances,” he said.

Municipal judge Teresa Bright-Pearson has discretion on imposing fines within the boundaries of state law.

The city has a fine schedule, but the judge doesn’t have to adhere to it, Cunningham said.

State law generally has allowed municipal courts to impose penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a maximum fine of $500 per offense, Cunningham said.

But state lawmakers have added new regulations to the courts within the past two years that further restrict the size of fines and the judge’s ability to impose jail sentences.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon last month signed legislation further limiting cities’ ability to profit from traffic tickets and fines.

The measure builds on a law passed last year that caps the amount of revenue municipalities can generate from traffic tickets. In Cape Girardeau and all other cities outside St. Louis County, traffic fines can total no more than 20 percent of a city’s general revenue.

The new law, which takes effect Aug. 28, lowers maximum fines for minor traffic violations from $300 to $225. It limits fines for nuisance and zoning violations, ranging from a maximum of $200 for a first offense to a maximum of $450 for a fourth offense in a single year.

Under the new law, people also cannot be jailed for failure to pay municipal-court fines.

As a result, “jail time is going to be less and less a possibility” for municipal offenses, Cunningham said.

Fine and jail limitations may make it more difficult to deal with chronic offenders, he said.

“These things come along and tie our hands. It is frustrating,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.