Court makes money with amnesty program

By Cassie Tomlin

Published Monday, Feb. 2, 2009 | 6:38 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 | 12:44 p.m.

By giving a break on court fees for a couple months, the city expects it will make thousands of dollars that otherwise might have never been collected.

Last month, the Boulder City Municipal Court began an amnesty program, waiving $200 bench warrant fees for those who pay warrants in full. The discount is designed to motivate those who have neglected or forgotten their court fines to pay. The program ends Feb. 5.

Through Feb. 3, almost 60 people took advantage of the program to avoid the fee, Bernadette Graham, court administrator, said.

That brought in $17,329, she said, much more than is paid in normal months.

Some of the money collected by the court stays in house for administration costs, and some goes to the general fund, City Manager Vicki Mayes said, so the city’s pocketbook will enjoy at least a little padding from the program.

The city is technically owed more than $1 million in court fees, tickets, warrants and delinquent payments, but won’t ever see that much come back, Mayes said. Some warrant go back seven years — the city holds records for that long because of state law — and many would be too hard to track down, she said.

In addition, the city ends up writing off a large amount of traffic ticket fines, because Municipal Judge Victor Miller often reduces or waives those fees for offenders who appear in person in court. The city would be lucky to collect $200,000 of the $1 million, Mayes said.

In addition to the amnesty program, police and the city’s constables are actively serving warrants and following up with phone calls and visits, sometimes in Henderson and Las Vegas, to encourage prompt payment, Chief Thomas Finn said.

The court is at 501 Avenue G. Office hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 293-9278.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].