JP court records fees go back to supervisors

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors will be looking over the complicated history of Justice of the Peace courts trying to collect fees.

The board is being asked by the courts to authorize an ordinance that would allow them to defray expenses for providing records and other services to the public. It is part of a work session scheduled for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

The supervisors had an ordinance allowing courts to collect fees for records requests. Those requests had been called a burden on court staff.

The JP courts began collecting the fee for civil and criminal cases. But statute only allowed the collection of the fee for civil cases. Presiding Judge Roger Valdez ordered a stop to the collections in December.

Now being requested is an ordinance to correct the problem and allow collection of fees for storing and retrieving criminal case records, too.

The Public Service Fee Schedule ordinance was drawn up last year, but the County Attorney’s Office hesitated to put a stamp of approval on it until the county’s authority ordinance was clarified by the Superior Court.

Meanwhile, those who paid fees wrongfully collected do have precedent for getting their money back, if they can show proof. There was no account code established to track the fee.