CHICAGO - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster sued 13 St. Louis County municipalities Thursday alleging violations of a state law that limits how much money they can make from court-related traffic fines.
The rules, laid out in what's known as the Macks Creek law, require cities and towns to calculate the percentage of their "general revenue" generated from fines and court costs for municipal traffic violations. The law limits the amount pocketed to 30% of general revenue, with the rest being distributed to local school districts. The law was inspired by abusive "speed trap" practices in the central Missouri town of Macks Creek, which has since disincorporated.
The lawsuit follows a review conducted by Koster's office of financial reports submitted by St. Louis County municipalities to the state auditor's office.
Heightened scrutiny of local governments' reliance on traffic court fines to prop up their budgets followed the August police shooting to death of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, by a white Ferguson police officer. The shooting has raised questions over whether police are too zealous because of local governments' reliance on traffic fines and whether they unfairly target minorities to generate that revenue.
The attorney general's review concluded four municipalities—Bellerive Acres, Moline Acres, Normandy, and the village of Vinita Terrace—submitted reports that suggests their revenue from traffic fines exceeded the 30% cap.
"The Macks Creek law was enacted to protect Missourians from predatory traffic ticketing," Koster said. "As we continue to identify areas for reform, an important first step is to require St. Louis County municipalities to follow the Macks Creek law to the letter. Based on my review, these thirteen municipalities did not."
The lawsuit targets another five municipalities that failed to file their annual reports. The cities of Beverly Hills and Pagedale failed to submit reports for fiscal year 2014. The cities of Breckenridge Hills, Pasadena Park, and Upland Park failed to submit fiscal year 2013 reports.
Another four municipalities—Crystal Lake, Velda Village Hills, the village of Hillsdale and the village of Mackenzie—failed to indicate how much of their operating revenue was derived from fines and court costs.
Under Macks Creek law, a municipal court can lose jurisdiction over traffic-related offenses if a city, town or village fails to submit an accurate and timely report to the auditor until the violation is corrected.
The investigation found that Vinita Terrace divided six months' worth of traffic-related fines by the total revenue for the entire year, dramatically misstating the percentage of operating revenue from traffic fines, which investigators believe may be as high as 50%. Moline Acres' fine revenue accounted for 34% of its operating revenue and Normandy's more than 38%.
The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment finding that the municipalities lacked jurisdiction over traffic-related matters in their municipal courts during the period of noncompliance and for an injunction prohibiting them from exercising jurisdiction over traffic violations until the violations are cured.
"If these municipalities will work with my office to come into compliance, we will work with them," said Koster. "If they fail to work with us, or simply do not have the ability to comply with state law, then they should lose jurisdiction over traffic violations."
Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich previously announced an audit of 10 municipal court systems, including Ferguson.
The St. Louis County suburb was not named in the attorney general's complaint but is one of seven local governments that face private litigation challenging their municipal court fees.
The lawsuits were filed recently by lawyers from St. Louis University, ArchCity Defenders and the Campbell Law LLC firm in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Beverly Hills, Ferguson, Fenton, Jennings, Pine Lawn, Wellston, and Velda City.
Court-related fines generated more than $2 million for Ferguson in 2013, making them the second biggest revenue producer for the city behind sales tax receipts.
A commission appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon is holding hearings to craft recommendation on social and economic policy changes in the aftermath of the turbulent protests that followed the killing of Brown.
