(A) When an enforcement officer issues and serves a citation, other than a warning citation, for the violation of any enforcement provision, he or she shall if practicable determine from the records available the status of the person under this section and shall determine and fix a fine to be requested in accordance with the provisions of this section, and shall enter the amount of the fine on the copy of the citation given to the offender or on a written attachment thereto and also on all other copies of the citation. However, if it is not practicable for the enforcement officer to check the available records at the time, or if doing so would require detaining the person cited for an unreasonable period of time, the enforcement officer may inquire of the person being cited if he or she has previously been convicted or has admitted guilt to the same offense being charged (exclusive of similar offenses committed in other jurisdictions); and the enforcement officer may rely on the response of the person for the purpose of this section until the time as the available records can be consulted by the enforcement officer or by the Clerk-Treasurer pursuant to § 32.11; however, should it subsequently prove that the person has given the enforcement officer inaccurate information as to his or her previous convictions or admissions of guilt, the enforcement officer or the Clerk-Treasurer shall adjust the fine requested to accord with the provisions of this section, and the Clerk-Treasurer shall mail to the offender written notice of the adjustment. The amount of fine to be requested in the complaint shall be determined in the following manner:
(1) If any provision of this code establishes a fixed penalty for violation of the provision or of a related provision, then the amount of fine requested in the complaint shall be the fixed amount so specified; however, if no fixed amount is specified but a minimum and maximum penalty are provided, then;
(2) If the violation is a first offense against the provision, the fine requested in the complaint shall be the minimum penalty so established or $1, whichever is greater;
(3) If the violation is a second offense in violation of the same provision, then the fine requested in the complaint shall be the minimum penalty so established plus 50% of the difference between the maximum penalty provided for violation of the provision and the minimum penalty; and
(4) If the violation is a third or subsequent offense in violation of the same provision, then the fine requested in the complaint shall be the maximum penalty provided for violation of the provision.
(B) However, should any person commit two or more separate offenses against any one enforcement provision by virtue of any singular and substantially simultaneous act or circumstance, and the singular and simultaneous act or circumstance is the person’s first or second instance of committing any offense against the particular provision, then each such separate offense shall be severally treated as a first offense or as a second offense, as the case may be, for purposes of fixing a requested fine for each offense in accordance with this section, irrespective of the other offenses concurrently committed.
(1985 Code, § 1-3-12)