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LAUREN WOOD/THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT — Natchez Police Sgt. Vince Bates writes out a speeding ticket during a traffic stop Friday on Homochitto Street. Traffic fines are projected to increase $5 due to an increase in the amount the state collects in assessments for fines.

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City of Natchez fines facing bit of inflation

Published 12:07am Saturday, July 14, 2012

NATCHEZ — If you’re caught speeding, shoplifting or violating other traffic laws or misdemeanor laws in the City of Natchez, it will soon cost you a few more dollars.

Municipal Judge Jim Blough said the amount the state collects in assessments for fines is increasing this year, so the city will be increasing its fines to keep up.

Blough said numbers have not been finalized yet, but he said he believes fines for traffic violations will increase $5 and misdemeanors, $10.

Blough said there are three different amounts municipal court collects: state assessments, restitutions for victims of crime and the amount due to the city.

The total municipal court collections for June were $62,888, of which $10,584 went to restitution.

The net total of fines received was $52,303, of which $18,524 — or 35 percent — went to the state and $33,779 went to the city. The highest collections the city saw this year were in February when the municipal court collected $108,336, of which $6,520 was paid to restitution.

State assessments for January were $39,295, and the city received $61,997.

The city’s portion of the collections goes to the general fund, Blough said.

Blough said normally municipal court fines increase each year to keep up with costs, but increases are also needed, he said, to keep up with state assessments.

Blough said the state legislature mandates each year that a certain amount is collected for traffic violations, DUIs and so on.

“Every year in the legislature they change it, they increase the amounts or add additional assessments,” he said. “They have added some for this year, so fines are increasing.”

 

 

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  • Anonymous

    They could make a fortune writing tickets for children who are not properly restrained in car seats and seatbelts.

  • Anonymous

    I want to know why the MS Highway Patrol is writing tickets inside the Natchez city limits.  I’ve seen them doing the same thing in Fayette, Bude, and Meadville.  How much are those tickets compared to the ones written by the local police departments?  Who does that money go to (individual and agency)?  I smell a scam.  I called the *hp number one morning about 6 am after nearly sideswiping a log truck parked halfway out on the highway near Hermanville.  I got a recording telling me to call the local sheriff’s office in case of emergency or call back during regular offfice hours.  The MHP needs to do it’s job out on the open highway and quit trolling for dollars within the city limits.

  • Anonymous

    State Police, in every state I know of, are allowed to write tickets anywhere. They usually don’t write tickets on any road inside city limits unless that road is a designated State highway. The ticket is turned into the city/county court where the ticket was written. The case is decided in the court where the ticket is written. All moneys collected for fines on these tickets are handled as any other ticket, the only difference I know of, it is usually harder to get a state ticket fixed for your “good buddy”. It can be done, it’s just a little harder.

  • Anonymous

    IS THERE A REASON FOR THE “TIMING” OF THIS CHANGE IN THE CITY OF NATCHEZ JUDGE BLOUGH ? BLOUGH SAID:” NORMALLY MUNICIPAL COURT FINES INCREASE EACH YEAR”, WHAT HAPPEN TO LAST YEAR AND THE YEARS BEFORE THAT JUDGE BLOUGH? THROWING UP TOTALS, PERCENTAGE, RESTITUTION, ASSESSMENT, COLLECTION, INCREASING, AND THE LIST GOES ON IS NO MORE THAN A DISTRACTION. “NUMBERS HAVE “NOT” BEEN FINALIZE YET” “YOU “BELIEVE” FINDS WILL INCREASE” IT SEEMS TO ME YOU SHOULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL YOU GOT ALL OF YOUR FACTS TOGETHER BEFORE RELEASING ANY INFORMATION. NOW, MY PERSONAL FEELING: I SEE THERE’S A BIG BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF A “BLACK” OFFICER WRITTING TICKETS AT TOP, AND THE CITY OF NATCHEZ “JUST” HIRED A “BLACK” CHIEF OF POLICE. I’M GOT TO LEAVE IT AT THAT FOR NOW, I GOT SOME MORE FACTS TO GATHER.  

  • Anonymous

    Am I the ONLY one that doesn’t understand what all this babbling means?

  • Anonymous

    How about the ones that are riding around in the back of a pick-up, obviously not wearing a seatbelt. You see it all the time.

  • Anonymous

    New state assessments go in effect on the 1st of July every year. The paper wanted to do a article so they got with an officer that was available not because he was black. your comments are full of racial innuendos and are frankly out of line and not called for

  • Anonymous

    What good do the fines do? They have over a million dollars uncollected for fines,unless your a steady worker i guess,the bums and systems workers skim by.

  • Anonymous

    Judge Blough and the city courts are listed in the crime reports daily for issuing contempt of court – failure to pay citations, thus are collecting fines judiciously.  The over $1MM you are referring to is in Justice Court for Adams County where the clerks were recently given an across the board raise for not doing their jobs to put citations in front of the judges for signature.

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