April 11, 2022 Group Watch: Bill Limiting How Much Municipalities Can Keep From Traffic Fines Passes
The legislature gave final approval to a bill intended to stop cities and towns from using traffic in an excessive way to fatten their budgets. The legislation came in response to the traffic trap scandal in Brookside, a Jefferson County town of about 1,200 people that used an oversized police force to triple its revenue over five years, with half the money from fines and forfeitures, which increased more than 600 percent. The new law would prohibit cities and towns from retaining money from traffic fines in amounts more than 10 percent of their general operating budgets. Municipalities would have to transfer any money above 10 percent in equal portions to the state’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund and the Fair Trial Tax Fund.
