(A) The following fees are hereby established to be collected by the Municipal Court:
(1) Court improvement fee. A court improvement fee shall be applied to each case in which fines, sanctions, penalties, and assessments are imposed by the Municipal Court. The improvement fee shall also apply to fees collected for court authorized diversion programs. COURT AUTHORIZED DIVERSION PROGRAM, as used in this section, means a program in which an individual charged with any civil, criminal, or petty offense is not prosecuted for the offense on successful completion of an authorized diversion program and includes authorized defensive driving courses.
(2) Warrant fee. A warrant fee shall be imposed for each warrant issued by the court. Any person who has a warrant issued by the court for failure to appear, failure to comply with a court order, or any other warrant from the bench shall be required to pay this fee to the town for the cost of issuing and servicing the warrant.
(3) Suspended license fee. A suspended license fee shall be imposed for each driver’s license suspension issued by the court. Any person who has had a suspension issued by the court for failure to pay a civil traffic fine or for any other reason shall be required to pay this fee to the town for the cost of issuing and servicing the suspension.
(4) Traffic case processing fee. The Municipal Court shall collect a traffic case processing fee, in addition to the fine imposed by the Court, upon the finding of responsibility or guilt for a traffic violation. For purposes of this section, TRAFFIC VIOLATION means a violation of Title VII of this code of ordinances, entitled “Traffic Code,” relating to traffic movement or control; or Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 28, as follows: (i) Chapter 3, Articles 1-15; (ii) Chapter 4; (iii) Chapter 5; (iv) Chapter 7, Article 5; (v) Chapter 8, Articles 4, 6 and 8; (vi) Chapter 9, Article 4; or (vii) Chapter 25, Article
3, except for federal licensing, registration and insurance disclosure requirements pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 28-8271, 28-8272 and 28-8275, as may be amended from time to time. The Court shall impose a single traffic case processing fee per case, regardless of the number of traffic violations arising out of any one case or complaint.
(5) NSF service fee. An NSF service fee shall be applied to any person who issues a check to the court in payment of a fee or fine where the check is returned by the financial institution for insufficient funds.
(6) Research fee. A research fee shall be required of any person who requests extensive records searches and case file copying who is not a victim of the crime alleged by the case or complaint for which he is requesting records. The fee shall be paid prior to the person receiving the records requested unless prior arrangements have been made with the court administrator due to extenuating circumstances.
(7) Case file copies fee. A case file copies fee shall be charged to any person who is a non-party to a lawsuit who requests a copy of the case file. The case file copies fee shall be per page of copies provided.
(8) Deferred prosecution fee. A deferred prosecution fee shall be assessed on every defendant who enters a deferred prosecution agreement with the municipal court.
(9) Suspended sentencing fee. When a person's sentence is suspended by the court, the person shall pay to the court a suspended sentencing fee.
(10) Indigent defense fee. An indigent defense fee shall be added by the court to sentencing terms when a defendant is represented in court by a public defender.
(B) If a person has been found by the Municipal Court to be indigent, the Municipal Court Magistrate may reduce the amount of any fee set forth in this section based upon the individual's ability to pay.
(C) In addition to any other remedies which may be allowed by law, the Town Attorney is authorized to institute civil legal proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover any fee owing under this section.
(2001 Code, Art. 5-5-3) (Ord. 06-656, passed 4-13-2006; Am. Ord. 09-717, passed 3-12-2009; Am. Ord. 16-809, passed 1-26-2016)