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Brentwood City Commission Agenda

Meeting Date:	03/23/2020
Ordinance 2020-05 - Amending Section 22-4 of the Brentwood Municipal Code Relative to an Electronic Citation Fee
Submitted by:	Jeff Hughes, Police
Department:	Police

Information

Subject

Ordinance 2020-05 - Amending Section 22-4 of the Brentwood Municipal Code Relative to an Electronic Citation Fee

Background

Staff recommends that the Commission adopt an ordinance allowing for an additional $5.00 court fee that can only be spent as described herein. The language in state law under TCA 55-10-207 allows for the following:

(e)(1) Each court clerk shall charge and collect an electronic traffic citation fee of five dollars ($5.00) for each traffic citation resulting in a conviction. Such fee shall be assessable as court costs and paid by the defendant for any offense cited in a traffic citation delivered that results in a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or a judgment of guilty. This fee shall be in addition to all other fees, taxes and charges. One dollar ($1.00) of such fee shall be retained by the court clerk. The remaining four dollars ($4.00) of the fee shall be transmitted monthly by the court clerk to the law enforcement agency that prepared the traffic citation that resulted in a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or a judgment of guilty.

(2) All funds derived from the electronic traffic citation fee that are transmitted to the law enforcement agency that prepared the traffic citation pursuant to subdivision (e)(1) shall be accounted for in a special revenue fund of such law enforcement agency and may only be used for the following purposes:
(A) Electronic citation system and program related expenditures; and
(B) Related expenditures by such local law enforcement agency for technology, equipment, repairs, replacement and training to maintain electronic citation programs.

(3) All funds derived from the electronic citation fee set aside for court clerks pursuant to subdivision (e)(1) shall be used for computer hardware purchases, usual and necessary computer related expenses, or replacement. Such funds shall be preserved for those purposes and shall not revert to the general fund at the end of a budget year if unexpended.

(4) The local legislative body of any county or municipality may, by majority vote, adopt a resolution or ordinance to authorize a county or municipal court clerk to charge and collect electronic traffic citation fees pursuant to this subsection (e). Any electronic traffic citation fee imposed pursuant to an ordinance or resolution under this subdivision (e)(4) shall terminate five (5) years from the date on which the ordinance or resolution is adopted.

The Finance Department will set up a special revenue fund for $4.00 of the total $5.00 fee, similar to the Drug Fund. The remaining $1.00 will go to a restricted fund balance in the general fund to be carried over year to year.

The purpose of this legislation is to provide financial assistance to court and law enforcement agencies in implementing/processing electronic citations, a process that is much more efficient than writing paper tickets and hand entering data into court software. The Brentwood Police Department currently utilizes electronic citations, but will continue to incur costs associated with replacing hardware, software maintenance, etc. The collection of this fee will help offset those costs.

The projected revenue for the 5-year period allowed to collect this additional fee is approximately $30,000, to be used to implement and sustain the electronic citation process.

As noted, there is a five-year sunset clause in this legislation. Staff recommends that the collection of the additional fee begin July 1, 2020, coinciding with the beginning of FY 2020-2021 for accounting purposes. For those cases where this new fee would be applied, the assessed court costs will increase from $75 to $80. Note that court costs are separate from the actual fine for a ticket, which is capped at $50.

Please direct additional questions to the Chief of Police or City Attorney.

Staff Recommendation

Staff recommends the adoption of an ordinance that would allow for the collection of this additional fee. The proposed ordinance is attached.

Fiscal Impact

Amount :
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Fiscal Impact:

The projected revenue for the 5-year period is approximately $30,000.

Attachments
Ordinance 2020-05