Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A proposed city ordinance could cost students who drink and drive as well as underage drinkers.
If the Lawrence City Commission passes an ordinance calling for an increase in some municipal court fees, DUIs and MIPs may become more expensive.
City Commissioner Rob Chestnut said the city is continuously reviewing the fees regarding the criminal justice system. Chestnut said the cost for the criminal justice system increases yearly just like other fee-based services the city provides.
Chestnut said the city’s recent budget concerns would be affected by the fee increases.
“The fee increases will contribute to general fund revenues that are now out of balance,” Chestnut said,
Chestnut said the fees represent a fraction of what it costs the city to provide law enforcement for the community.
Among other things, the ordinance calls for a $100 increase to the cost of going on diversion.
Diversion is a method that allows people to avert prosecution of a case by completing conditions of a diversion agreement over a set period of time. After this set time period, if all conditions of the agreement have been met, the charge is dismissed.
City prosecutor Jerry Little said the increased diversion fee will have some financial effect on students, but not much.
Little said students will still have time to pay their fees or do community service to pay off their fines. For each hour of community service, students can work off $7 of their fine, Little said.
The standard diversion fee for an MIP will increase to $400 if the city passes the ordinance.
Becky Wasserman, Dallas junior, said she was glad she got her MIP last year.
“Trust me, $352 was enough of a punishment.” Wasserman said.
Wasserman said she thinks the potential fee increase is going to be a struggle for some students.
“It is a substantial amount of money to pull out all at once,” Wasserman said.
The city commission passed the ordinance through on its first reading July 10. If the ordinance passes through the second reading it will go into effect once published.
The increased Municipal Court fees will include a $150 probation fee and $10 fingerprinting fee.
The ordinance also calls for a $52 per day fee from people jailed by the city as reimbursement to Douglas county for the cost of their incarceration. The Municipal Court judge will have the ability to assess if the defendant has the ability to pay this fee. If the defendant does not, they will not be responsible for the cost.
—Edited by Ben Smith
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