Politics & Government

Farmington Council Members Hear Court Report

Officials learn their city's share of the 47th District Court's workload is creeping up.

While there's no great crime wave gripping Farmington, the city's share of the 47th District Court's caseload is creeping upward. 

Farmington and Farmington Hills both fund the court, which is located on the Hills municipal campus at 11 Mile and Orchard Lake Roads. That's where Farmington officials met Monday with court administrator David Walsh, who provided an overview of court operations. 

In 2009-2010, Farmington paid $624,106 for court operations; Farmington Hills paid $2,470,745. Additional funding comes from the State of Michigan, which contributed about $892,000 in the same year. Additional funding comes from Oakland County and the community work program, whose participants pay a fee to do community service as a part of sentencing.

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While Farmington's share of the caseload has held fairly steady since 2006 – right around 15 percent – Farmington Hills has seen a steady decline that started between 2007 and 2008. As a result, the split between the cities is now nearly 80-20.

"Farmington's share of the caseload is the highest it's ever been since I've been around," Walsh said. 

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Farmington city manager Vince Pastue said the impact on the city's budget could have been greater, but the court's budget has dropped by more than 11 percent. "Even the relationship between (the two cities') population is different," he said, referring to the 2010 Census. "Their population loss was greater than ours." 

Walsh said revenues from Farmington Hills traffic tickets have significantly declined. Traffic case filings dropped by more than 40 percent between 2007 and 2010, from 18,992 to 10,840, with around 10,000 expected this year. That affects other areas of court activity as well. 

"So many of our criminal cases end up being driven from traffic stops," Walsh said.

The decline in traffic tickets has a big impact on revenues, he added. The cities collect $100 from each ticket, so the loss of nearly 10,000 tickets since 2007 represents a revenue loss of almost $1 million.


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