A state judicial task force is calling for a local court funding overhaul so local judges will have fewer incentives to squeeze defendants for revenue. That is part of a plan to bring courts into a compliance with an 11-year-old Michigan Supreme Court decision that money from fines and fees can’t be used to pay courts’ day-to-day operating costs.
The recommendations include creating a state-level fund that would collect all fines, fees and court cost orders that are imposed by local court judges.
The Michigan Judicial Council report released Thursday said allowing revenue from fines and fees to remain with local courts creates a perverse incentive for judges to squeeze people appearing before the courts for funding.
“We can have people who come to court because they will believe it was about public safety, not a money grab,” said State Court Administrator Tom Boyd.
“It isn’t that folks that come before the courts aren’t paying their fair share, it’s that they’re paying way more than their fair share,” he told Michigan Public Radio. “So, the report tries to get at a mechanism to ensure that people pay the right amount and that the people that assess that revenue aren’t motivated by profit.”
Monroe County Administrator Michael Bosanac, who was part of the task force, said in some places, courts use the revenue to make ends meet. In others, local court surpluses are used to fund other government services.
“We’re not saying that those functions are not important,” he said. “They’re really important. We’re just simply saying that in this new model that they should not be funded from court resources and revenue. They should be funding those from some other source of money.”
The recommendations now go to the Legislature, which has voted itself multiple extensions to fix the problem. But there appears to be bipartisan interest in reaching a resolution.
“I do want to get there. I do have a desire to make it so the system is fair and equitable and it’s funded at a reasonable level,” said Representative Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “At the end of the day, we are responsible for taxpayer dollars and want to make sure we’re using those dollars effectively and efficiently to administer justice.”
“It’s a super-important issue that I’m hoping that the Legislature can finally get resolved,” said State Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), who chairs the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. She said a resolution is overdue to resolve the conflict between the fair administration of justice and leaning on defendants to provide a major source of funding.
“So how can we make sure that we have a stable funding system that funds our trial courts in a way that gets rid of that conflict,” she said.
Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio, the acting legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said Michigan’s problematic court funding system could be vulnerable to a constitutional challenge if it is not fixed soon.
“The obligation to tax, assess, to fund the operation of the government is a responsibility of the Legislature, not the judiciary, and so that’s a constitutional concern, and second, it raises serious due process concerns,” she said. She said that is because defendants cannot be guaranteed impartial treatment when judges have a vested financial interest in guilty verdicts and imposing fines and fees.
