Two small Missouri cities are drawing heat from the state auditor for charging court fees that aren’t allowed by state law.
Democrat Nicole Galloway found that the municipal courts in St. Ann, and Foristell, in St. Charles County, were both generally well-run. But in reports released Tuesday, her office said both charged fees that were not authorized by state law.
Her office found that St. Ann levied a $25 bond fee to process cash bond payments and a $10 fee to process credit card bond payments. The North County municipality collected nearly $38,000 in 2014. In Foristell, officials charged $100 fees against defendants who didn't show up for court, totaling nearly $66,000 in 2014.
Foristell officials said they have stopped charging the $100 fees. St. Ann fiercely disputed the idea that its bond processing fees were illegal, but said it is no longer collecting cash bonds and therefore did not need to issue the $25 fee. It did not mention credit card bonds.
"The $25 processing fee on cash bond payments and $10 fee on credit card bond payments were legal user fees duly enacted by the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Ann through Ordinance 2544. The fees were enacted to specifically cover the non-judicial staff time in the city's Corrections Department to process bonds, when the party chose to use city rather than private sector services. The Missouri Supreme Court found such fees legal in Keller v. Marion County Ambulance District, 820 S.W.2d 301 (Mo. banc 1991)("how much to charge users [of services] is for the elected" to decide) and again most recently in Arbor Inv. Co v. City of Hermann, 341 SW2d 673 (Mo 2011). We obtained a legal opinion from the St. Ann City Attorney outlining why this fee meets the user fee "Litmus Test" outlined by the Missouri Supreme Court."
The two cities were reviewed as part of the auditor's Municipal Court Initiative, which was first unveiled by Thomas Schweich in 2014, just a few months before his death. A spokeswoman for Galloway said audits of the courts in Leadington, Winfield, Foley, Moberly and Bella Villa are under way. Work has yet to begin on the courts in Ferguson, Pine Lawn and Linn Creek.
Follow Rachel Lippmann on Twitter: @rlippmann
