Roy City Court - Good, Bad, or Redundant? -- Roy City Virtual Towne Square

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Date Posted: 09:49:15 02/13/03 Thu
Author: James E. Bohne, Jr.
Subject: Roy City Court - Good, Bad, or Redundant?

Roy's own court now in session

A state district court no longer

Fri, Jan 31, 2003

By ANTONE CLARK
Standard-Examiner correspondent

ROY -- Court is in session these days in Roy under the direction of the city, not the state.

After years of being a participant in district court, with a rotating set of seven judges, Roy City has established its own justice court system effective Jan. 1 and the result should be greater convenience for city residents and added revenue to city coffers.

The change came after city officials became aware of the Legislature"s potential cutback in district court funding in 2002 -- which could have forced court functions, normally handled in Roy, to be dealt with in a court in Ogden.

Three separate times the Legislature looked at cutting the court in Roy, which prompted city officials to initiate action to set up a justice court, replacing the state-run district court. The net result, according to City Manager Chris Davis, is that the city will take over responsibility of court matters and keep a greater portion of revenues from fines than it did previously.

Under the former arrangement, the state leased space in the Municipal Building from the city and then gave the city a percentage of the funds generated from fines. The new arrangement requires the city to fund costs of the court, but results in the city keeping the fines generated. Davis estimated the result will be a financial gain for the city, of up to $80,000 a year, after expenses are met.

Davis expected the court will cost about $170,000 a year to operate from the Municipal Building but said city officials estimated it will generate about $250,000 a year in funds.

Scott Waterfall presides over the justice court, which will hold sessions twice a week in the city building. He is a partner in an Ogden law firm.

Implementation of the city"s new court system came about in a rather rapid fashion, according to Davis. He said it would normally take almost a year of procedure to make the switch in courts, but the new court system was approved and funded in just a matter of months.

The new court had to be approved by the Utah State Judicial Council and also receive support from district judges and from district administration.

"It literally flew through," Davis said of the approval process.

A lawyer, Davis said the new court doesn"t translate into quotas for the Roy City Police Department.

"We will enforce the law in the same way," Davis said.

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