Speeding or violating other traffic laws inside the city limits of Franklin County municipalities will now carry a more costly fine.
Due to the recent passage of Act 2012-535 by the Alabama Legislature, court costs will increase for traffic cases as well as non-traffic misdemeanor and municipal ordinance cases that occurred after June 21, 2012.
For traffic cases such as speeding, driving under the influence, insurance violations and license violations, court costs will be $26 more than they were previously.
However, traffic cases for seatbelt violations, open container and parking violations remained the same.
For several non-traffic misdemeanors court costs will be increased by $40.
The court cost increase is something that was requested by the Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) to help fund circuit court costs throughout the state.
According to AOC representatives, the Unified Judicial System (UJS) received less funding from the state than it requested for the 2013 fiscal year so the fee hike was necessary to cover expenses.
AOC officials said if their budget had remained as it was before the passage of Act 2012-535, approximately 500 AOC or UJS employees would have been laid off.
Red Bay Court Clerk Cindy Green said they have already updated their software to include the new fees, even though they encountered a few problems in the transition.
“When we updated the software at first, there were some cases where a person who was convicted of an offense before June 21 didn’t have their payment due until July, but the computer assessed the new fees to that case anyway, so we had to go back and fix those cases,” Green said. “Just like with anything new, it’s been a learning process to make sure we get the fees posted in the right cases and get the money going where it’s supposed to go, but we’re making it work.”
Green said there have been a few complaints already about the increased costs, but she said she has tried to stress that it isn’t something the city could help.
“Since this was a statewide bill, we just have to go by what the bill says,” Green said. “I know people aren’t going to like it, but we have to follow what the legislature says to do.”