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Old 09-03-2010, 09:04 AM
 
1,134 posts, read 2,858,229 times
Reputation: 490

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My wife got a ticket a little while back for an expired tag. We moved, updated our licenses, but the renewal notice was still sent to our former address.

So I figure, no problem, they generally just want you to get it registered and everything is dismissed when you show the new registration.

So we renewed, and my wife went to court this week. Sure enough they let it go as expected and we only had to pay court costs.

$142

This blows me away. Why on earth are court costs so high here? Elsewhere I've lived the court cost ranges from $30 to $60.

Looking at all the citations you can pay without going to court via hsv municipal court website (http://www.hsvcity.com/municipalcourt/#blank) I see that speeding under 25 mph over the limit is a smaller fine than the court cost is. The fine for "improper tag" is $132. I can't imagine the fine for expired tag being much higher.

$142 seems awefully ridiculous a price to pay for forgetting to renew a registration - especially considering you get no advantage from renewing late because you're only given a "year" sticker. That said, it's one thing to say "you screwed up, pay the fine" - I can accept that. But court costs that are nearly as bad as the fine are absurd to me.

Anyone know who sets this "court cost" and how to go about getting it changed?
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Old 09-03-2010, 09:56 AM
 
430 posts, read 1,056,309 times
Reputation: 221
We have expensive judges in Alabama
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Old 09-03-2010, 02:18 PM
 
8,742 posts, read 12,891,034 times
Reputation: 10524
Just pay them.... It's far cheaper than trying to fight it. Get it out of your hair and be done with it.

But if you want to know the details,

Court time cost labor (judge, clerks, security), facility (building, upkeep, maintenance), traffic (parking, traffic, local PD, etc.)..... $142 is cheap when you have to pay all the above. It does not matter you're right or wrong... the "people"'s time get tied up with your little issue.

Have you ever go to the hospital.... your court cost is cheap compare to what hospitals charge
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Old 09-03-2010, 06:07 PM
 
4,739 posts, read 10,397,203 times
Reputation: 4186
HB2HSV - yes, had to pay >$5,000 for an ER visit recently after a car wreck (all's well).
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Old 09-07-2010, 02:47 PM
 
426 posts, read 1,268,353 times
Reputation: 126
OK--so I'm confused. Help me out.

Got a ticket going 52 in a 40 (12 miles over)
The fine chart from Dvlsadvc8's link above says that the fine is $127 (which includes court costs)
The lady downtown says that the total fee to pay is actually $137 (which includes court costs)
The lady downtown says that court cost is $117 so there is "no reason" to go before the judge

Can you help direct me to the breakdown between fine and court costs?
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