Dateline: January 17, 2008

Lack of tickets hurting city revenue

Revenue to City Hall from Clarendon’s Municipal Court is down because of a decline in the number of traffic citations, according to a report from Judge Jimmy Johnson last week.

Johnson addressed city aldermen at their January 8 meeting and outlined the number of tickets his court handled over the last two years. Traffic tickets in 2006 numbered 343 with fines amounting to $51,876, but that number fell to 153 last year, dropping the tally down to about $25,000. And in December, two citations were issued to one person.

City Secretary Linda Smith said the situation is approaching the point where the Municipal Court may lose money.

“The court had a net of $519 last month,” Smith said.

In addition to handling traffic citations in the city, the municipal court also handles ordinance violations, and hot check cases, the latter of which brought in the most revenue last month.

Johnson also said the city has received only one fine for an ordinance violation since City Administrator Sean Pate resigned in 2005. That position has not been filled.

The judge attributed the difference in traffic citations to changes in personnel at the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, which is under a contract with the city to provide law enforcement services.

Alderman Janice Knorpp said she wanted to see something done about the lack of traffic control and asked to have the sheriff come to the next city meeting.

Mayor Mark White and Alderman Terry Noble said the sheriff is short one deputy and as a result isn’t able to devote one person to traffic control. They said low pay in Donley County is a problem when it comes to recruiting a new deputy.

Armstrong County pays $24,000 and just hired an applicant that Sheriff Butch Blackburn was trying to hire. But Blackburn told the Enterprise Monday that the salary is only part of the problem.

“There’s no one out there to hire,” Blackburn said. “The ones that are out there, nobody wants.”

The sheriff said the starting salary for a deputy in Donley County is $22,500 and goes up to nearly $27,000 with experience. Hemphill County deputies start at $40,000, Carson County starts at more than $31,000, and both of those departments have openings.

Blackburn said he wasn’t griping about what Donley County pays, but he said it does come into consideration. He also said the deputies he has are kept busy with criminal cases and traveling to district court. The day deputy was gone Friday and Monday for court, he said.

“I understand the county would like more money (from tickets) just like the city wants,” he said, “but it’s not happening right now.”