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Thursday, December 23, 2010
Ind. Courts - Fort Wayne officials decide not to pursue city court
Updating a now long list of stories, the most recent from yesterday, Benjamin Lanka of the Fort Wayne Jounral Gazette reports today. Here are some quotes from the story, emphasis added by the ILB:
Just two weeks after proposing it, Mayor Tom Henry’s administration is scrapping its request to create a city court.Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy on Wednesday said the process of introducing an ordinance has led to an increased interest by city and county officials to discuss how to better handle city ordinance violations.
“It got us all to sit down and see what we could do,” she said.
Malloy and Mike McAlexander, chief deputy prosecutor for the county, announced they would conduct meetings next year to discuss how to make the processes better. * * *
To create a city court in 2012, the bill had to be approved this year so a city court judge could be elected during 2011.
The proposal received immediate opposition from Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards and Allen County Superior Court Judge Fran Gull. In an e-mail last week, Richards told the council her office would not support a city court, which she said would limit the type of cases to be heard there.
Richards said she does support some cases at New Haven city court because of the proximity for some officers. A Fort Wayne court would be only a few blocks from the county courts. * * *
In proposing the bill, Malloy and others touted the ability of the New Haven court to generate $2 million this year, compared with far less revenue generated by traffic tickets in Fort Wayne.
That number, however, doesn’t show the reality of those revenues, according to New Haven Judge Geoff Robison.
While New Haven’s city court expects to collect gross revenues of $2 million, Robison said the majority of that money is sent to the state.
“This is not a casino,” he said. “It’s not intended to be a money machine. It’s a service.”
Malloy previously said the desire to generate revenue was the main impetus for starting a court in Fort Wayne.
Through October, Robison said his court generated $253,000 for the city’s general fund.
His annual expense budget is $173,500, meaning the court does generate some extra revenue for the city.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 23, 2010 09:39 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts