Where Does Money From Traffic Fines Go?
I was recently at a town hall meeting for the City of Morganton and listened to several of the proposals and points that members of the public bring to the city council. One point that made a lot of sense was that Morganton does not have enough taxi cabs and uber drivers in a town with around a dozen bars and breweries. As such there’s an environment for entrepreneurs to fill in a gap sorely needed in town. There was one common misconception however that was brought up that needs to be made clearer to the public. The commenter, like many, believed that the town is raking in millions of dollars from fines for traffic stops. Unlike the states surrounding us, that has not been the case since the 1960’s.
I am an attorney who works primarily with speeding tickets across the region from Asheville to Charlotte. One of the things I hear frequently in consults is “I guess the town/county/city was a little low on the budget for the month.” So, the question generally goes: how much money does the City of Morganton or any other town in NC make from speeding tickets or other traffic citations? Well let’s use the common ticket of improper equipment with costs and fines in the amount of $266. Where does that money go? According to NC G.S. 7A-304(a)(1) a service fee of $5 is remitted to the county where someone is given a citation. Thestate charges a 10% admin fee so the $5 gets reduced to $4.50. But, if a person is given a citation by a municipal officer like MDPS or Valdese police the $4.50 goes to Morganton as opposed to Burke County. What about the other $261.50? That all goes to Raleigh.
That answer surprised me too when I first learned that tidbit of information, so I went digging into the history. Prior to 1966 the state judicial system ran solely off fines. Think back to the Andy Griffith show where he would give out seemingly arbitrary fines as the Mayberry Justice of the Peace. As opposed to nowadays, fines and costs were not uniform, and every county court and judge could have very different fines. In fact, in many counties there were multiple courts including some cities that held their own municipal traffic court run by local officials. In the late 1950s a committee, later known as the Bell Commission, was instituted to investigate reforming the NC Justice system. The Bell commission’s findings recommended a complete overhaul of the system and by 1968 the system we currently have now was in place after a constitutional amendment and several bills that went through the general assembly. Instead of hundreds of counties with their own system the state court system was divided into the district and superior court systems that we have today. Justices of the peace were replaced by full-time magistrate judges who work setting initial bond hearings, marriage ceremonies and NC small claims court. Since the ‘60s all court personnel, including judges are salaried employees of the State of North Carolina and are no longer paid based on the number of fines they give out in a year. A district court judge makes the same in Bakersville as they do in Charlotte. So where do the court costs and fines go now?
The answer is Raleigh, along with the rest of your tax money (that’s not going to Washington), and the money is spent by the NC General Assembly. So, the next time you see a lot of officers out and are thinking about the budget being short, remember it’s not the City of Morganton making a lot of money, it’s the State of North Carolina. Let’s just be glad that the only traffic ticket money that goes to DC is if you are in a National Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway or a military base.
Andrew Dennis is the Owner and Founder of Table Rock Law and deals primarily with Speeding Tickets and occasionally Ch 7 Bankruptcy.
This letter initially appeared in the The Paper in Burke County NC.
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