Marksville renews call for fair share of Ward 2/City Court fines

If you thought the Marksville City Council had given up its fight to reclaim a fair share of Ward 2/City Court fines, think again. Mayor John Lemoine sounded a call to arms after Police Chief Elster Smith reported city police wrote 45 tickets last month and received $60 in fines from the misdemeanor/traffic court while the Avoyelles Police Jury received $5,455.

The Police Jury is also not pleased with the current financial status related to the court, noting that the parish is “losing money” on the court, even though it receives most of the fines. So far this year, the Police Jury has paid $85,208 to fund the Ward/City Court. It has received $57,549 in fines.

While the court also handles cases outside the city limits of Marksville, in the unincorporated areas of Ward 2, most of the court’s activity deals with Marksville issues. This has prompted some jurors to complain that the parish is paying for a City Court -- using parish tax dollars that could otherwise be spent on maintaining roads, bridges and drainage in rural areas.

There has been a threat -- but no official jury action -- to seek legislation that would eliminate the hybrid court. Proponents of that “solution” say Ward 2 cases would be handled the same way as they are in other wards, either in district court or by the justice of the peace.

Marksville would deal with its cases the way other municipalities do -- with mayor’s courts or a city court with a magistrate.

The only other combination court in the parish is the Ward 10/Bunkie Court. There has been no funding flap between parish and municipal officials with that court.

‘NOT FAIR’

Lemoine said it is “not fair” that the city and parish both pay 50 percent of the court’s operating costs “and one agency that is not paying one red cent” toward the law enforcement end of the process gets almost all of the fines.

“We write the tickets, we put the fuel in the police cars, we pay the insurance on those vehicles, pay the salaries of the police officers and the Police Jury doesn’t do one thing, yet we get $60 and they get over $5,000,” Lemoine said.

The mayor said the city is “getting hit at both ends” in the court’s operations because the city -- not the parish -- is responsible for housing individuals arrested by city police while those suspects await trial or if they are sentenced to jail time by the court.

Smith told the council that the city paid the Avoyelles Sheriff’s Office $3,500 to house city prisoners last month.

The Police Jury seldom, if ever, is charged to house prisoners sentenced to jail for crimes committed in the unincorporated areas of Ward 2.

Councilman Frank Havard blasted the Police Jury for being a “parish body that does nothing for this city.”

“Something needs to happen,” Lemoine said. “It is just too lopsided. That bird just don’t fly."

“And that dog don’t hunt, either,” Havard added.

BACKGROUND ON FUNDING DISPUTE

Prior to two years ago, all of the fines went to City Hall. Lemoine and the City Council changed that, reneging on a “gentlemen’s agreement” with the Police Jury whereby the city paid the bulk of the court’s operating costs and received all of the fines.

The city forced the parish to pay 50 percent of the costs, as required by the state statute that created the Ward 2/Marksville City Court.

The Police Jury retaliated by instructing the district attorney’s office to prosecute as many misdemeanors and traffic cases as possible as violations of state law, which sends the fine revenue to the Police Jury. Marksville receives only the fines collected for violations of city ordinances that are not also included in state law -- such as “saggy pants” offenders.