A. The clerk of the municipal court, or any designee thereof, and the municipal judge shall assess and collect court costs from each accused person in each action in municipal court as provided in subsection B. of this section. Such court costs are based upon the cost of issuing process, administering oaths, filing and preserving all papers and records, docketing cases, setting cases for trial, and such further acts as may be compatible with the administration of justice.
B. Court costs shall be assessed against an accused person for any ordinance violation disposed of by forfeiture of bond, by plea of guilty or no contest, by a finding of guilt after trial, or by diversion or other alternative resolution as follows:
1. For all violations of ordinances related to traffic or from the standard traffic ordinance other than those specified in subsections B.3. and B.4. of this section: seventy-five dollars ($75.00).
2. For all violations of the uniform public offense code as adopted or amended by the city or for all other violations: one hundred dollars ($100.00).
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection B.1., no court costs shall be assessed for all other violations relating to seat belts pursuant to Section 182.1 of the Standard Traffic Ordinance, as incorporated by reference in Section 6-1-1.
5. In the case of conflict between subsection B. and any other ordinance, the provisions of the other ordinance shall apply.
C. The City shall, insofar as applicable, remit to the State of Kansas the required assessments pursuant to K.S.A. 12-4116, 12-4117, and 12-4120, and amendments thereto, for only those costs that are assessed pursuant to subsection B. and that are collected.
D. Should the Kansas legislature or the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas, from time to time, increase required fees or assessments to be collected in municipal court, the costs designated in this section shall be increased by the clerk of the municipal court, or any designee thereof, in an amount necessary to adequately cover the increased required fee or assessment.
E. Only one court cost shall be assessed for each single case number, regardless of the number of violations in the case.
F. The application cost or program fee associated with a diversion agreement or any other alternative resolution for any other violation shall be determined by the City Prosecutor but shall not be less than one hundred and fifty dollars ($150.00) and shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00).
G. The clerk of the municipal court may, at their sole discretion, determine the payment methods to be used for the payment of any costs in this section and for the payment of any fine imposed; provided, however, that the same payment methods must be generally available to all accused persons, absent an individualized suspicion of fraudulent activity or history.
H. The clerk of the municipal court may provide for non-cash payment methods, including, but not limited to, electronic, digital, and mobile payments. The clerk of the municipal court may set a fee to be added to each non-cash transaction that is equal to the cost paid by or charged to the City for payment processing or the clerk of the municipal court may provide for a payment processing service that sets fees for and directly charges accused persons or their payors for non-cash transactions. Any fee related to a non-cash transaction for payment processing is to be paid by the accused person or their payor and said fee shall be paid in addition to other costs and fines. The clerk of the municipal court, or any designee thereof, shall provide notice of any such fee to an accused person or their payor at the time of payment.
I. The clerk of the municipal court may provide for payment by personal or business checks. The acceptance of any check is conditional upon the satisfactory collection of the check. The clerk of the municipal court may establish fees for returned checks but any such fee shall not be less than twenty dollars ($20.00) and shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00). Any such fee shall be paid by the accused person who drafted the returned check or by the accused person on whose behalf the returned check was presented. Any such fee shall be paid in addition to other costs and fines.
J. The costs and fees assessed pursuant to this Section shall be in addition to the fine imposed. (Ord. 1172, 4-18-2016; amd. Ord. 1259, 11-6-2023)