The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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March 3, 2008

Our View — Local traffic citations a good idea

When you get caught for going over the speed limit, or making a lane change without using your signal, you accept the fact you will probably pay a fine.

What you may not expect is to pay a bunch of extra money to the state of Minnesota to help fill a budget hole that lawmakers and the governor didn’t want to fill in a legitimate manner.

The state Legislature could change that.

Currently, when you get a traffic citation, most of the money you pay — $72 — is a state fee above and beyond the actual ticket penalty of about $40.

The absurdly high fee is another result of a governor who pledged not to raise any tax but had no problem skewering residents with excessive fees.

Police officers around the state have problems with writing tickets to people for minor infractions when they know the severe cost. That’s why some 100 towns have created local tickets in which people pay a penalty of about $50, with the money staying with the local government and the offense not going on the driver’s record.

There is question of whether those local ordinances are legal under current state statute. That’s led some lawmakers to push a bill that would give Minnesota communities the option to set up a local system.

Opponents say it denies the state of revenue and that cities might be tempted to push their officers to hand out more tickets to make money. But a state auditor’s report found that cities with local citations do not get a significant amount of income from them. And the state likely loses little revenue because police say many of those who got local tickets probably would have been left off with a warning otherwise.

The high state fee has, in fact, cost the courts and police because more people are fighting the tickets in court, tying up police officers who have to testify and costing taxpayers money.

That’s one of the reasons that two statewide police associations back the idea of local citations.

Many states have systems that allow for local systems to deal with minor traffic violations. They allow local governments to collect some money to help with local enforcement, allow police to use their good judgment on what type of ticket to write, and provide a penalty to motorists who violate the law without making the penalty unreasonable.

The Legislature should give Minnesota communities the same option.

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