Atlanta traffic tickets may cost more

NOTE: Judges have discretion to set fines for those who come to court. A pre-court payment of a traffic ticket is a technically a bond, not a fine. The bond is then forfeited to dispose of the case. The city’s revenue office suggested raising penalties to equal what Fulton County charges.

If you get popped in Atlanta for making an improper turn or running a stop sign, you’ll have to pay $189 to resolve the case without showing up at Atlanta Municipal Court. Get ticketed for speeding? Plan to fork over $144 if you were going 11 to 14 mph over the limit, while those busted in Atlanta for a broken headlight usually pay $104 to end the case.

In a few weeks, those penalties may seem like bargains.

The city of Atlanta's proposed budget suggests big jumps in penalties for many traffic offenses to generate more than $7 million a year for the city. A tail light violation, for example, would jump from $104 to $265 for those who want to pay without coming to court, under the budget proposal.

The judges at Atlanta Municipal Court, not the mayor or City Council, make the final decision on what traffic offenders pay and they say they’re earnestly working on an update. But Atlanta Municipal Court Chief Judge Christopher Ward said city finances will have nothing to do with any changes the court decides to make.

“Revenue has no concern for the judges in this court,” Ward said. “We’re concerned about the effective administration of justice.”

The Atlanta Municipal Court is a mammoth operation devoted to misdemeanor matters. It processes more than 250,000 cases a year. And it lightens lots of wallets through its work, collecting more than $25 million a year from people who speed, run through red lights, shoplift, drive drunk or commit other misdemeanor offenses. People who spend time at the court often complain about long waits, confusion, expensive fines and requirements to come to court multiple times, even on a traffic offense.

The court offers the option of paying off some traffic tickets before a court date, for those who don’t want to contest the charge and would rather not go to court. The judges are currently deliberating how much the payment amounts should be for this option. The pre-court payment is technically a “bond,” not a fine. The way the system works, the bond is forfeited to resolve the case.

The amount in the court’s “bond schedule” is often used as the fine amount in court, too. But defendants who come to court have a shot at convincing a judge they aren’t guilty or getting a reduced fine or an alternative punishment, such as community service or a pretrial intervention program.

“For every defendant that appears in court, the unique circumstances of the related case are considered,” said Ryan Shepard, the court’s administrator.

The city’s budget proposal says a study by the Office of Revenue found that “a significant number of City Traffic fines are below Fulton County and other surrounding jurisdictions.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reviewed the bond amounts for pre-paying traffic tickets in Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties. While Fulton’s current penalties are indeed higher, the amounts at the other jurisdictions are often lower than what Atlanta charges now and far less than the increases suggested to reach parity with Fulton.

For example, the Office of Revenue proposed matching Fulton’s bond amount of $265 for a stop sign violation, up from the current $189 in Atlanta. The bond amount for running a stop sign is $96 in Gwinnett and $155 in Cobb, the AJC found. Bond amounts include base fines, plus surcharges.

Thousands of people who come to Atlanta Municipal Court have difficulty paying fines for traffic offenses. The city places thousands of people a year on private probation to allow them to pay fines over time, an option that can double the overall cost of an offense because monthly probation fees are added to the tab.

The notion of the city's Office of Revenue suggesting an increase in traffic fines as a means to raise money comes at a sensitive time nationally. A finding of the Justice Department's investigation in Ferguson, Missouri, was that Ferguson's law enforcement practices were shaped by the city's focus on revenue rather than public safety. Civil rights advocates say high fines also push more people onto "pay-only" probation and put them at risk of being jailed if they can't pay.

“The rise in modern-day debtors’ prisons—the arrest and jailing of poor people for failure to pay legal debts through procedures that violate their basic constitutional rights—is directly linked to local governments’ efforts to supplement public funding with increased fines and fees collected from those convicted of traffic offenses and other misdemeanor crimes,” said Nusrat Choudhury, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ward, who became the court’s chief judge last month, is emphatic that his court’s operations are not about making money for the city. Any changes the court decides are appropriate for the bond schedule “will go into effect on July 1 and proper notice will be given,” said Shepard, the court administrator who is also new to the job. Both Shepard and Ward say they are devoted to improving the court.

While plenty of people complain about fines at Atlanta Municipal Court, many others complain about hassles they encounter at the massive operation. Long waits are not uncommon even though cases are often concluded in a few minutes.

Brent Winner is still frustrated with his experience at Atlanta Municipal Court a few years ago.

Winner commutes to Atlanta from Henry County and got a speeding ticket on Freedom Parkway. He entered a not guilty plea, which required him to return to court for the trial. Winner said he had to come back to court four more times before his case was actually heard: The police officer didn’t show up the first two times, and a conflict in the judge’s schedule required another reset.

On the final court date, Winner said, the officer was present, there was a bench trial, and he was found guilty.

“I don’t care about being found guilty—this wasn’t my first speeding ticket and won’t be my last,” Winner said. “What I do care about is what seemed to be the cavalier attitude of the court towards the defendants like myself and others.”

Atlanta attorney John Beane had his own odyssey last year at Atlanta Municipal Court, when he decided to challenge a ticket for a stop sign violation. Beane was firmly convinced that he had stopped as required as he made his way along a familiar route to his house. It took eight months to resolve the matter, and Beane was astonished by the process.

Beane pleaded not guilty on his first appearance, which meant he had to come back again for his case to be heard.

When he came back for the trial, he said, he was three minutes late to the courtroom due to traffic congestion and was given a Failure to Appear notice and instructed to leave the courtroom and see the clerk. He had to pay a $100 FTA fee, but was told since he paid it so quickly, he would not have to file the usual paperwork with the state to prevent his driver’s license from being suspended. He was told he could return to court as a “walk-in” and start over. He did that the next day and entered another not guilty plea and was given yet another court date. After reading the law regarding failure to appear, he felt the FTA charge was improper since he had not “willfully” failed to appear.

Within days, he was shocked when he got a notice from the state, saying his license would be suspended if he didn’t quickly provide the state with a form from municipal court, in spite of what the court employee had told him. He went back to court, secured the form to prevent the license suspension and took it to the Department of Driver Services.

On the day his case was to be heard, he showed up 45 minutes early. The cop didn’t show up. The judge dismissed the case. While Beane prevailed, he left with a dim view of the city’s justice system and concern for the thousands of other Atlantans exposed to the system.

“Had I not felt I was not guilty,” Beane said, “I would probably have just given up at some point and paid whatever they told me to pay and gone on with my life. It certainly would have been far easier to do that.”