The Kimball Police Department (KPD) decided to try something new this year – issuing administrative tickets to traffic violators. The tickets are an alternative to state’s uniform tickets, which are issued to traffic violators throughout the state. The major differences between the tickets are fees, and where the money goes. In the first, the fees range from $60-$85. Money collected stays in the city. The latter costs more, usually more than $100, and divides money between the state, county and local police departments. Kimball Police Chief Todd Rohloff introduced the city to the idea at a council meeting last March. “It was an alternative that was out there. The chief in Royalton did it, and city attorneys reviewed it. They said that there was nothing that says we cannot do this (issue administrative traffic tickets),” Rohloff said. The Kimball City Council approved the use of administrative tickets. Since the approval, the City of Kimball has collected $14,520 in administrative fines, with a portion of it coming from traffic violations. This intake has helped the city offset the loss of local government aid (LGA). Kimball Mayor Karla Davis explained that the city lost $26,609 in LGA this year. The state has also projected cities will lose the same amount next year. For the city’s 2004 budget, the city has budgeted taking in $34,000 in fines. Included in this projection are fines taken from county tickets, administrative fines and restitution. “By taking in the administrative fees, that alone has made up the difference,” Davis said. State Auditor Patricia Awada issued a statement on the practice Thursday, Oct. 2. In her statement, Awada questioned the legality of administrative tickets. “Cities and counties may think that it is a clever way to increase revenues in their coffers, but the legislature requires use of a uniform state traffic ticket, even for traffic-related ordinance violations. By using their own local tickets, cities appear to be circumventing state law.” In response to Awada’s statement, Rohloff said that she was just making a comment on the issue. Currently, there is nothing in state law addressing administrative traffic citations. “She (Awada) issued an opinion. It is just an opinion, everyone has opinions,” Rohloff said. At the last city council meeting, Monday, Oct. 6, Rohloff told the council that the KPD will continue using the citations. “I talked with the other chiefs, we are going to keep going with this until we hear otherwise.” Kimball sees benefits in the administrative tickets Both Davis and Rohloff said there were benefits to using administrative tickets. Rohloff said that the tickets improve officer/citizen relationships, while Davis felt that they were beneficial to traffic violators. “Everything I have had in response to the tickets is positive. The tickets make our job more user-friendly. A person may get a citation, but we are helping them by giving an administrative tag,” Rohloff said. “To me, it is a win-win situation for everyone.” Rohloff also explained that violators are more likely to admit they were speeding because of the administrative citations. He also said citizens are thankful that the violation doesn’t go on their permanent record. However, when violators are pulled over, there is the option of receiving a state uniform ticket instead of the administrative citation. This ticket is usually given for repeat offenders. Rohloff said, “We use administrative tickets for someone with nothing on their record or someone who hasn’t had a ticket in three, four or five years. We are going to give them the administrative ticket since they are not habitual violators.” Davis indicated that positive responses to the administrative tickets helped her make a decision on the topic. “Two selling points for me were that it is not on your insurance and not on your permanent record,” Davis said. Local insurance agent Tom Ehlinger reiterated the benefits in tickets with his explanation of state uniform traffic tickets. He said that state tickets go on a person’s record, which may raise their insurance rate. “Every company is different on how they deal with traffic violations. With American Family Insurance, we allow one small violation, like speeding, in three years, without raising rates.” Ehlinger indicated that there is no exact estimate on how much insurance rates would rise with violations. All of this would depend on the vehicle, the age of the driver, and other violations the insured person may have. “It could be as low as 2-3 percent and it goes a lot higher than that,” Ehlinger said. Putting money back into the department Davis said that many cities have cut back on their police departments because of the loss in LGA from the state. She said that administrative fines have helped keep the police presence strong in Kimball. “How can you turn away that money (administrative fines),” Davis questioned. “That money is used to build the police department and keeps the city safe.” Davis also said the collection of fees has allowed the city to keep taxes low, which was one of her goals as the mayor. “My point is that if people would look at the tickets they would see that we can have our local law enforcement that tax payers pay. If you took 1/3 [of what we are collecting in administrative fees] and gave the other portion to the state and county, who are not serving our community 24/7, we would have to look at cutting our budget to make this up (the projected $34,000).” Jumping on the bandwagon Many cities have solicited Rohloff for a copy of the city citations his department issues. “I think that I have faxed off the ordinance to 75 other departments. A lot of local departments chose to do this,” Rohloff said. Other local cities that have moved to administrative tickets include Little Falls, Cold Spring and St. Joseph, to name a few. Providing due process If Kimball traffic violators wish to contest the administrative ticket, they can appear in front of the hearing board, composed of city council members. According to the city ordinance, the board “shall have the authority to to dismiss the violation or reduce or waive the penalty imposed.” The violator has seven days to contest the ticket. Awada has expressed a concern that a hearing board approach takes power out of the court system. “Local traffic tickets should not be used as a way to avoid the court system … Until the legislature gives cities and counties that authority, cities and counties cannot replace the court system with their own local penalty bureaus.” Taking up the issue The next step involving administrative tickets will be a ruling by Minnesota’s Attorney General Mike Hatch. Depending on what Hatch says, administrative tickets could go to the legislature for a vote. “I think that it is going to come up sometime in the future [at the state legislature],” Rohloff said. “The law enforcement along with the general public will need to put pressure on the local legislators to keep this. The public needs to support [administrative tickets]. We plan to work with them on the issue.”
