JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville city councilman is trying to get the city in compliance with court filing fees mandated by state law.
Councilman Rahman Johnson (D-District 14) held a workshop on new legislation he’s filed that aims to mend the misalignment on Tuesday.
If you contest a code violation and lose your case in court, you could have to pay an extra fee soon.
Under state law, if you are cited for violating a local code and try to contest that citation in court, the city is supposed to pay a $10 filing fee upfront.
If the city wins, that $10 fee is supposed to be paid by the defendant.
If the defendant wins, the city is on the hook for $40 in fees.
But Councilman Johnson learned the City of Jacksonville has not been enforcing those fees for years, as local fee structures are out of line with state law.
It’s unclear how much money in fees has gone uncollected.
Johnson said that’s part of what he is trying to figure out.
He said it could be millions of dollars or a few hundred thousand
Either way, he argued the city needs to get into compliance with state statute, because if it doesn’t, it could run into serious trouble should it ever be subjected to a state audit.
“This is not something that’s usually done. So, everybody is kind of a little confused ad my thing is, if it was supposed to be done and it wasn’t, regardless, the state law says do the thing,” said Johnson. ”So, we have a choice, either do the thing or try to change the law so the thing doesn’t need to be done. But we can’t just ignore it and not do what the law says.”
Johnson explained there’s still more work to do on this bill, like identifying how the city will budget for the fees and how the money will be paid back by defendants when it wins in court.
He said he hopes to have a final product across the finish line sometime in the fall.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.