City court revenue expected to stay flat
City manager cites fewer tickets being written, change in state laws.
Revenue from the Lakeway Municipal Court is not anticipated to increase in the coming budget year, City Manager Steve Jones said during a recent City Council budget workshop, in part because the state’s laws on indigence and court fines have changed.
In the 2018 budget year, revenue from the municipal court is expected to be about $700,000, nearly the same as the projected actual amount of revenue for the 2017 budget year — $699,950. That is about $90,000 less in revenue than the city had budgeted for the 2017 fiscal year, and nearly $155,000 less than municipal court revenue drawn in the 2016 budget year.
“Two things: the biggest impact on that is just reduced citations being written on the street,” Jones said of the decreased revenue. “The other part of that is the laws on (indigence) in courts have made it where the definition (indigence) is much broader, and so we’re letting more people off with payment plans, community service and forgiveness of some of the fines and fees.”
The state Legislature this year passed Senate Bill 1913, which mandates changes to civil and criminal consequences, including informing anyone charged with a Class C misdemeanor that there are alternatives to full payment of fines and, if a court determines a violator doesn’t have the means to pay, must offer alternatives such as payment plans or community service in lieu of court fees.
In April 2016, the city included a “safe harbor” program into its court practices, meaning that any person accused of a Class C misdemeanor who has a warrant out for them will not be arrested if they come to the courthouse to discuss their options.
“There’s been a great movement across the country after the Ferguson, Missouri, case (became public),” Madison said. “In dealing with indigent defendants, I think we’re real mindful in Lakeway — I don’t have people harping on me in my city or City Council about ‘we need to bring in more money.’ It does not happen.”
Madison was referring to U.S. Department of Justice reports released in 2015 indicating that Ferguson police were ticketing residents at high rates, primarily for minor violations, and jailing residents who didn’t pay.
Since April 2016, 145 people declared indigent by the court have paid nothing in fees, 27 have repaid fees via community service, 138 have satisfied court fees with jail credit and 144 have paid fees using a payment plan. Almost 62 percent of people declared indigent by the Lakeway court do not live in the city of Lakeway.
“Indigent is somebody saying, ‘I lost my job’ or ‘I have a couple of jobs and four kids and my ex-husband is not paying child support,’ ” Madison said. “You can only do so much. Most people are responsible and want to take care of these things, but they’re hanging on by a thread. We’re compassionate. That’s one thing we’re proud of in Lakeway — we have compassion and mercy.”