Courts prove to be key revenue sources Sunday, July 26, 2009 By Justin Mason (Contact) Gazette Reporter
CAPITAL REGION — Raymond Armstrong was crossing the Western Gateway Bridge when he noticed the red and white lights of a police cruiser drawing closer to his supercharged 2004 Ford Lightning pickup. Moments later, a state trooper was handing the Glenville resident a speeding ticket for driving 15 mph over the limit. The ticket was Armstrong’s first in nearly a decade, a fact in his favor when the county assistant district attorney suggested a plea bargain. Rather than have Armstrong pay a minimum fine of $180 and receive four points on his driver’s license, the prosecutor offered to knock down the ticket to a parking fine. The deal prevented both from having to sit through a trial and ended up costing Armstrong a $100 fine — all of which will eventually make its way into Rotterdam’s general fund. (Armstrong was tagged on a section of the bridge that is legally Rotterdam’s jurisdiction.) “I was treated fairly,” the relieved Armstrong said with a shrug after emerging from the court Thursday. “I broke the law and I have to pay, but he gave me a break.” Scores of traffic violators like Armstrong file into Rotterdam’s Justice Court each month. They are joined by a number of other lawbreakers, including those charged with local code infractions and a variety of misdemeanor crimes. And when their cases are resolved, they often leave with wallets that are considerably lighter. Fines, fees and bail forfeitures collected by some of the state’s 1,262 justice courts can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars for both the state and localities. Towns often use this money to offset the cost of having a local court, which operates independently from county and city courts. But in many cases, the revenue collected by a justice court is much larger than the municipal cost of operating the court, meaning towns and villages can use the funding to help control taxes. For instance, Rotterdam’s court — one of the top grossing justice courts in the Capital Region — poured $427,244 into the town in 2008. This figure represents about 3.2 percent of the $13 million general fund budget and would have otherwise been raised through property taxes. CRITICAL INCOME “It’s a very critical component of the budget,” explained Supervisor Steve Tommasone. “If we didn’t have those hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue, that amount would certainly be commensurate in taxes.”
MONEY AT STAKE Capital Region’s top 10 grossing justice courts: Municipality, statewide rank, total fines collected, local portion * Colonie, 3, $2,421,305, $1,116,435 * Clifton Park, 31, $1,144,908, $482,511 * Bethlehem, 37, $1,019,239, $543,346 * Rotterdam, 43, $949,739, $427,244.10 * Guilderland, 46, $869,711, $446,569 * Halfmoon, 50, $839,553, $385,536.25 * Wilton, 60, $731,762, $285,235 * Princetown, 72, $656,661, $202,066 * Schodack, 75, $650,963, $325,763 * Coeymans, 76, $647,070, $228,800 Source: State Comptroller’s Office ..................>>>>......................>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/26/0726_courtsrevenue/
Follow the guns. Whoever controls the money controls the masses. Show me the levy.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
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