City Targets Distribution of Ticket Fines

Frustrated over thousands of dollars of revenue that city officials say Glendora and many other cities are losing from traffic ticket revenue, the city council voted to seek an audit of the county's accounting of fines and fees for criminal and traffic violations.

The council also unanimously voted during Tuesday’s meeting to seek legislation that would ensure fair distribution of fines among all the stakeholders.

City officials, including Mayor Pro Tem Joe Santoro and Police Chief Rob Castro, have throughout the last several years, with City Manager Chris Jeffers calling the distribution process “convoluted” and “broken.”

According to city documents, cities’ cost recovery for their time involved in enforcing state codes are being “waived, reduced or uncollected due to the current processes and lack of auditing of the individual courts throughout the State.”

Santoro, who also serves on the Public Safety Committee of the League of California Cities, said the receipts of fines and fees have “dramatically fallen over the last several years while the number of citations have stayed relatively the same from city to city.”

In December, the Finance Administrator for the Revenue Management Department of the Los Angeles Superior Court took a sample audit of 15 random citations issued in 2010.

According to that audit, Glendora received 12 percent of the $2,063 in fines paid for on the 12 of 15 citations submitted. While cities are supposed to receive 80 percent of the base fine for traffic tickets, the city received received just $21 of each $172 ticket.

However, the county received 87 percent of the ticket fines.

The lower ticket revenue to cities has been attributed to the judge’s lowering of the base fines to allow more opportunities for those with difficulties paying their tickets. Also, “priority distribution” goes to payments to any victim, and the state surcharges, fines and penalties.

The council’s vote would urge the California State Controller’s Office to audit the county’s accounting and distribution of revenue of fines, fees, assessments and administrative costs from cities’ tickets.

The distribution process of ticket revenues, according to city officials, further complicates cities’ ability to track the ticket fees. The process encompasses more than 150 ways of distribution, with revenue from fines split between state and local agency funds.

“[Writing tickets] is not a money making operation for cities at all,” Castro said February. “Actually, we end up losing money.”

The Glendora Police department had expected to receive $220,000 from revenue from traffic ticket fines by the end of the fiscal year. By February, the city had received just $89,000.