Monroeville Police Chief Gary Lyons informed council recently his department collected more than $800 so far this year in cost recovery funds.
Those are monies the department collects from people who don't live in the village, but got into a vehicle accident in Monroeville and were found to be negligent. Lyons estimated that two-thirds of accidents in the village are caused by non-residents. The police department is on pace to collect more than $800 for all of 2012, the chief said.
Council member Christina Raftery asked Lyons how he intends to use them money. The chief said traffic enforcement and buying another speed measuring device are possibilities. He added he has an open mind as to how to spend the money.
To find out what else happened at the council meeting, including Lyons telling council about a money-saving uniform change and other matters, read the story published in the Reflector.
Comments
Please excuse my ignorance but how can police charge additional funds for police service? At fault drivers are fined and part of that money goes into the general fund, I don't understand how additional fees can be charged to out of towners for police service. Is this fee part of the fine or in addition? I'm sure I'm wrong but if someone can point out the section in the Ohio Revised Code I can say I learned something today.
nice tryin to make a buck on accidents
he's not tryin...he did it...
Ok I just found out municipalities can charge a "crash tax". It seems wrong, but I guess some cities are imposing it under much critism.
There are also some that charge for fire dept and ambulance. This is the way of the future...there is no funding left in the federal, state or local governments to support these services. If you want to be safe and secure you need to help pay for it. Either thru taxes and levies to support safety services or thru the "crash tax"
I doubt these charges are covered by your auto insurance. I'd like to know how they can legally collect such a charge that is not tied into the traffic fine.
The easiest way to get around it is to call 911 and decline a police response. If they still respond, it is on them. Although you will likely have to take it higher than the municipal court to get it overturned. If your insurance company requires a police report all you need to do is go to the police station and make a report.
When police and fire have to respond, it costs money either way you look at it. How about instead of pointing the finger at the PD of Monroeville, how about pointing the finger at all the people who get into accidents. I thinks its a fair either way you look at it. Some of you are going to argue about them collecting 800 dollars so far this year. Dear Lord, its November. Thats about 72 bucks a month on avg. Yeah, they are raking in the dough. Lame attempt by the Reflunkter to stir the pot.
The police should be supported by the municipality not by private citizens. Monroeville had a Supreme Court case in which Mayors Court was considered biased, which could influence the outcome of speeding tickets. I can see the same argument being made in order to collect re-imbursement. If I am paying for police response beyond my taxes, I want to choose who to respond and it would not be Monroeville. I don't think the mixture of private and public funds is a good idea when we are talking about police service. Most states do not allow "crash tax", another reason to avoid Monroeville. P.S. I don't care what the monetary amount is, it seems wrong to charge for what the police are already being paid for.
I was in a fender bender in Toledo and they sent fire, ambulance and police. I received a bill from Toledo for over $1,000 for emergency response services. I called Geico and they told me to ignore it, that they had already responded to the City of Toledo that this was a non-enforcable charge. The insurance company told me that if I wanted to pay it I could, but there was no requirement and that if they tried to sue they would represent me in court.
So this appears to be another tax on the stupid in that they will only collect this from the people who are afraid or too lazy to challenge these illegal charges.
And why are so many accidents happening?? Is there a traffic hazard that needs corrected?
Probably not a traffic hazard, it is more than likely NOT PAYING ATTENTION. Be it text, radio, gps, coffee, etc, etc, people do NOT pay attention.
rip off
I heard they were going to get a red light camera,what a joke! these things have been proven to cause more accidents that they supposedly prevent.