A Jacksonville city councilman is trying to get the city in compliance with court filing fees mandated by state law.<\/p>\n
Councilman Rahman Johnson (D-District 14) held a workshop on new legislation he\u2019s filed that aims to mend the misalignment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
If you contest a code violation and lose your case in court, you could have to pay an extra fee soon.<\/p>\n
Under state law, if you are cited for violating a local code and try to contest that citation in court, the city is supposed to pay a $10 filing fee upfront.<\/p>\n
If the city wins, that $10 fee is supposed to be paid by the defendant.<\/p>\n
If the defendant wins, the city is on the hook for $40 in fees.<\/p>\n
But Councilman Johnson learned the City of Jacksonville has not been enforcing those fees for years, as local fee structures are out of line with state law.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how much money in fees has gone uncollected.<\/p>\n
Johnson said that\u2019s part of what he is trying to figure out.<\/p>\n
He said it could be millions of dollars or a few hundred thousand<\/p>\n
Either way, he argued the city needs to get into compliance with state statute, because if it doesn\u2019t, it could run into serious trouble should it ever be subjected to a state audit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not something that\u2019s usually done. So, everybody is kind of a little confused ad my thing is, if it was supposed to be done and it wasn\u2019t, regardless, the state law says do the thing,\u201d said Johnson. \u201dSo, we have a choice, either do the thing or try to change the law so the thing doesn\u2019t need to be done. But we can\u2019t just ignore it and not do what the law says.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson explained there\u2019s still more work to do on this bill, like identifying how the city will budget for the fees and how the money will be paid back by defendants when it wins in court.<\/p>\n
He said he hopes to have a final product across the finish line sometime in the fall.<\/p>\n
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