A. The city court shall impose upon conviction for any violation of a city ordinance or upon forfeiture of bond or bail a charge that is in addition to other taxable court costs, fees, or fines, as follows:
1. Fifteen dollars ($15.00) for each charge;
2. The greater of twenty dollars ($20.00) or ten percent (10%) of the fine levied; and
3. An additional fifty dollars ($50.00) for each misdemeanor.
B. If the court determines under sections 46-18-231 and 46-18-232 Montana Code Annotated that the person is not able to pay the fine and costs or that the person is unable to pay within a reasonable time, the court shall waive payment of the charge imposed by this section.
C. The charges imposed by this section are not fines and must be imposed in addition to any fine and may not be used in determining the jurisdiction of any court.
D. When the payment of a fine is to be made in installments over a period of time, the charges imposed by this section must be collected from the first payment made and each subsequent payment as necessary if the first payment is not sufficient to cover the charges.
E. The charges collected under subsection A of this section must be deposited with the city finance officer.
F. The city finance officer shall retain the charges collected under subsections A1 and A2 of this section by the city court and may use that money for the payment of salaries of the city attorney, deputies and staff.
G. 1. Except as provided in subsection G2 of this section, city finance officer may retain the charges collected under subsection A3 of this section for payment of the expenses of a victim and witness advocate program, including a program operated by a private, nonprofit organization, that provides the services specified in title 40, chapter 15, and title 46, chapter 24, and that is operated or used by the city.
2. The city finance officer shall deposit one dollar ($1.00) of each charge collected under subsection A3 of this section in the city court's fund for mitigation of administrative costs incurred by the court in the collection of the charge. (Ord. 2010-09, 6-1-2010)