Monday, February 22, 2010
Editorial: Court fees shouldn't fund sheriffs
A proposal to drastically increase court fees would be a bad way to fund sheriff's offices.
From the RoundTable blog
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What happens when a cash-starved state government takes almost any method of raising general revenue to fund core state services off the table?
You get proposals like the one that recently passed the Senate for a massive increase of civil court filing fees to raise money for sheriff's departments.
Filing a district court civil action would cost $75 instead of $27. And instead of paying between $60 and $160 for a civil action in circuit court, you'd pay between $500 and $1,000.
As Sen. John Edwards, DRoanoke, warned, such steep increases could put civil court out of the reach of "the little guy."
He also wisely pointed out that this represents a major policy shift: "We have never previously funded the court system, other than the clerks, through the filing fees," Edwards said. "This is a dramatic change in the way we fund the court system."
Actually, most of the money would go to make up for state budget cuts to sheriff's departments.
Sheriff's do provide courtroom security, but beyond that, it's a tenuous link. Part of the money would also go to commonwealth's attorneys, also facing steep cuts from the state.
Such basic funding for law enforcement and justice has always come from the state's general fund, Edwards argued.
But the general fund is exhausted, victim of falling revenues caused by the deepest, longest national recession in decades.
The recession may technically be over, at least as gauged by growth in the nation's GDP, but its effects linger.
While House Republicans don't want to raise any taxes ever, even more fiscally responsible politicians are loath to do so during shaky economic times.
But the alternative is drastic fee increases like this one, which some legislators convincingly argued will raise costs significantly for many small businesses in the state.
There are some things the commonwealth should fund through user fees. Law enforcement and public safety are not among them.
