Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/01/2007

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~ CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Topic Report: Administrative Fines for Minor Traffic Violations By: James Way, Police Chief Background: Staff was requested by Councilmember Dehen to bring the topic of administrative fees for minor traffic violations forward for discussion at work session. The issues identified for consideration ofthe use of administrative fees are two fold; first, to capture the revenue that is currently collected by the state and the county and secondly, to reduce the burden on congested court systems with regard to minor traffic violations. Current Minnesota state law does not specifically allow or prohibit cities from utilizing administrative fines for minor traffic violations. Because state statute does not specifically allow or prohibit the use of administrative fines, there are very few cities that currently utilize this practice. Legislation has been introduced and is currently being debated in the legislature to formally allow cities to utilize administrative fines under state statute for specific traffic violations. The proposed legislation is attached for Council review. Current Minnesota state statute allows cities to be credited with 2/3' s of the amount collected on traffic arrests if the city provides prosecution, which Ramsey does. This can be a bit deceiving in that a traffic citation also includes surcharges paid to the state and the county. For example: a $40 traffic citation includes a $72 surcharge and a $3 library fee, bringing the total of the ticket to $115. The City would receive $28 of the $40 citation and the state/county receives $87. There are several factors that will need to be considered for the City of Ramsey to implement the use of administrative fines for minor traffic violations. The City would need to develop a process for the administration of the ticket and the collection of the fines. In addition, if fines are not paid, follow-up will be . required to notify officers that an Anoka County citation will need to be issued and mailed to the violator. Another factor to be considered is the loss in revenue that the State and the County will face. It is the League of MN Cities position on the current legislative proposal that the administrative fines utilized by municipalities would be issued only in circumstances where previously a warning would have been issued. The proposed legislation limits the use of the administrative fine to a few minor offenses. This would prevent a loss in revenue at the state or county level and therefore, limit the revenue that could potentially be gained by the municipality. One final area for consideration is that of officer discretion in the issuance of a traffic violation ticket. Under current MN state law, the officer would have discretion in writing a municipal administrative fine or an Anoka County citation. If the ticket is issued under the municipal administrative fine process, the ticket will not appear on the driver's record. In cities that do not utilize the administrative fine process, a county citation would be issued and the ticket would appear on the driver's record. In addition, an argument could be made that the city is issuing tickets in an effort to increase revenue. Staff has assembled considerable information on this topic and is prepared to discuss various issues related to the consideration of implementing administmtive fines at the request of Council. Action Statement: Based on discussion. CCWS: 05/01/2007 ";,..