Fine notice proposed to eliminate court time

A proposed change to the city’s municipal infraction ordinance could save citizens both time and money.

Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess outlined on Monday a new simple notice of fine to city council that would eliminate required court appearances for first offense infractions such as animal violations, nuisance violations and some burning or fire code violations.

“The police department serves a number of violations throughout the year on a routine basis, and what we hear most from our citizens was, why can’t I just pay this and not go to court?” Burdess said.

Currently, when a citizen violates an ordinance designated as a municipal infraction, the violator is issued a citation by the city and a court appearance has been required regardless of the severity of the violation. Generally, about 15 to 30 days following the violation, a court appearance is scheduled and the citizen must attend the hearing to accept responsibility for the action.

With a guilty plea, citizens are generally fined between $10 and $1,000 plus an $85 court fee. Burdess said in most cases, the violator is fined the lowest possible amount of $10, with the city currently receiving 90 percent of the fine.

“The majority of the actual penalty goes to administrative costs that may not be necessary,” Burdess said.

The citizen also has the option to plead not guilty, which would result in a trial or hearing being scheduled for a later date. At that trial or hearing, city staff would be required to attend and testify as a witness on the city’s behalf.

A simple notice of fine is an alternative that would cite citizens who have violated a municipal infraction and assess a fine payable to the city clerk or designee without involving the court system. If the fine is paid within a specified time period, there would be no further action required by the city or violator and the city would retain 100 percent of the fine amount.

Should the fine not be paid or the violator chooses to contest the citation, city staff would follow up and issue the violator a municipal infraction citation, which would require or allow the violator to appear in court and be charged a court cost of $85, plus the fine assessed by the magistrate if found guilty.

A new schedule of penalties was also presented with the first offense ranging from $50 to $250, second offense from $500 to $750 plus court costs and the third or any subsequent offense coming in at $750 to a maximum fine of $1,000 plus court costs.

A survey of fine schedules for 10 area communities found that Newton’s fine amounts are significantly lower than most, even with an increase to $50. Currently, the first offense fine in Pella is $250, Sully is $100 and Colfax is $85.

During a review of municipal infractions assessed by the NPD in recent years, the department reported it recorded $2,901 in revenue in 2014 and $1,542 in 2015. In 2015, the NPD wrote approximately 100 municipal infractions,with the fire department issuing less than 10 and planning and zoning issuing approximately 30. The fire department and planning and zoning’s revenue was not included in the police department’s revenue total.

“We didn’t look at this as a revenue stream at the start. What we looked at was our citizens complaining,” Burdess said. “I do believe this is a way for us to serve the community in a better manner, more efficient manner. Ultimately we see this as a win-win for both sides.”

The ordinance change is scheduled to go before the city council at its next meeting on May 16.

“This is an initiative that staff, especially the chief and Erin (Chambers, director of planning and zoning), spent a considerable amount of time on and the vast majority of the benefit is for the citizen and not city staff,” city attorney Matthew Brick said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com