Stupidest ticket ever
3rd Gear Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 869
From: Milledgeville, GA
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
Not that I know of. You see, most companies want you to be on your own plan for $$$ reasons. It depends on what kind of insurance company you have (they have different "levels" of companies. Some, higher levels, won't take people in a certain risk group but offer superior service.)
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 311
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
Thanks for chiming in D60. Its nice to have some backup. I am glad you detailed what we go through on a t-stop, and would have been happy to do so if I had been given the chance without being attacked. I had the same thoughts of Ghost not respecting police and it is sad that he is passing that to his children. I would hope that something happened to him personally that was unjustified (not that I want bad things to happen to people, but it might validate his feelings) to provoke his hatred of the police. Though, from his posts, I fear it may just be ignorant prejudice.
Its sad a forum turned out like this. I had respect for Ghost and most of his posts are informative and helpful, but those seem to be the ones he has knowledge of and is not simply musing and accusing. That's all I ask is that people post of what they know and not make blanket accusations and derogatory remarks. The forum is to help people, not berate them.
As far as the actual help, GT06GT. Most of the posts on here will help you. My 2 cents is:
When you appear in court, if that is your decision, be respectful to all. Attempt to find the prosecuting attorney and speak with him. Nothing you say will hurt your appearance. It could only help to lesser your fine/sentence, whatever. Well, depending on the attorney, it could help to find you guilty as well, but you seem to accept the fact that you are. Explain that you just plain screwed up. Bring your history in, wether bad or not, because it will eventually come up anyways and you dont want to appear to be hiding anything. The prosecutor will most likely go to speak with the ticketing officer and see if a deal is doable. As long as you had respected the officer and he/she is a good officer, they will appreciate your respect and honesty and agree to a plea of some sort. This could be anywhere from a amending it to a parking ticket with a small fine, to mandating a driving class to prevent a reported conviction and points, to just plain court supervision with court costs, to being found guilty. You would be better represented and more apt to cut a deal with a lawyer on your side, but is it worth the cost? You will have to decide that. And it ultimately depends on the people that you deal with and how they react to you. I have had judges give supervision for major offenses and assign high fees for minor ones. In Illinois (outside of Cook County (Chicago)), traffic courts are fairly well organized and equal, though some judges take more discretion than others.
Its a crap-shoot. sucks, but it is. And I was there when I was sixteen with an '88 5.0. S- happens.
Good Luck. Sorry to have hi-jacked your post!
Its sad a forum turned out like this. I had respect for Ghost and most of his posts are informative and helpful, but those seem to be the ones he has knowledge of and is not simply musing and accusing. That's all I ask is that people post of what they know and not make blanket accusations and derogatory remarks. The forum is to help people, not berate them.
As far as the actual help, GT06GT. Most of the posts on here will help you. My 2 cents is:
When you appear in court, if that is your decision, be respectful to all. Attempt to find the prosecuting attorney and speak with him. Nothing you say will hurt your appearance. It could only help to lesser your fine/sentence, whatever. Well, depending on the attorney, it could help to find you guilty as well, but you seem to accept the fact that you are. Explain that you just plain screwed up. Bring your history in, wether bad or not, because it will eventually come up anyways and you dont want to appear to be hiding anything. The prosecutor will most likely go to speak with the ticketing officer and see if a deal is doable. As long as you had respected the officer and he/she is a good officer, they will appreciate your respect and honesty and agree to a plea of some sort. This could be anywhere from a amending it to a parking ticket with a small fine, to mandating a driving class to prevent a reported conviction and points, to just plain court supervision with court costs, to being found guilty. You would be better represented and more apt to cut a deal with a lawyer on your side, but is it worth the cost? You will have to decide that. And it ultimately depends on the people that you deal with and how they react to you. I have had judges give supervision for major offenses and assign high fees for minor ones. In Illinois (outside of Cook County (Chicago)), traffic courts are fairly well organized and equal, though some judges take more discretion than others.
Its a crap-shoot. sucks, but it is. And I was there when I was sixteen with an '88 5.0. S- happens.
Good Luck. Sorry to have hi-jacked your post!
4th Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,925
From: Zimbabwe
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
I was on my parent's plan when driving a 4runner, $300 a year or something.
When I bought my mustang at 18, I also went on my own insurance policy. Put me back $266 a month, which is approx. $3200 a year. A year later, I went to Mercury insurance through AIS and now I'm paying about $1900 a year.
Should've gone to AIS sooner.
When I bought my mustang at 18, I also went on my own insurance policy. Put me back $266 a month, which is approx. $3200 a year. A year later, I went to Mercury insurance through AIS and now I'm paying about $1900 a year.
Should've gone to AIS sooner.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,138
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
ORIGINAL: Scooter80
Well, which is the "Valid statistic"? 50% or 70%? And what city, county, state are your statistics for? Oh, and FYI Birdieman, the country IS bankrupt. I find it hard to believe that any educated person thinks that traffic fines are going to make a dent in an eight trillion dollar defecit any time soon. Thats with a "t". And I laugh that you think they play that big a part in local government, let alone the national government. Please, stick your heads back in their holes in the ground and save your one-sided "facts" for the "Enquirer". Maybe those "facts" stick in po-dunk one-officerville, but they're not going to in any decent-sized town, and especially a big city. Parking tickets? Well, now you are getting somewhere.
Well, which is the "Valid statistic"? 50% or 70%? And what city, county, state are your statistics for? Oh, and FYI Birdieman, the country IS bankrupt. I find it hard to believe that any educated person thinks that traffic fines are going to make a dent in an eight trillion dollar defecit any time soon. Thats with a "t". And I laugh that you think they play that big a part in local government, let alone the national government. Please, stick your heads back in their holes in the ground and save your one-sided "facts" for the "Enquirer". Maybe those "facts" stick in po-dunk one-officerville, but they're not going to in any decent-sized town, and especially a big city. Parking tickets? Well, now you are getting somewhere.
Here are a couple of examples:
Desperate to boost revenue, city extends ticket amnesty
From the above article: "The extended amnesty will give City Hall a better chance to come near the higher end of its goal of generating $4 million to $10 million from Chicago's first parking ticket amnesty since 1987."
The high end of $4 million to $10 million (meaning closer to $10 million), not on all parking tickets, just overdue parking tickets in Chicago. If they get that much money from overdue parking tickets alone, how much do you think they get from ALL traffic tickets?
Pedestrians Could Get Fined For Crossing On Red
From the above article: "Although improving traffic flow is supposedly behind the crackdown plan, the cash-strapped Daley administration has no doubt calculated the enormous revenue flow that might result."
Enormous revenue from jaywalkers. How enormous do you think the revenue is from ALL traffic tickets?
$500 fee added to traffic tickets
From the above article (Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago):
"Village officials said Monday that the new fee will partially offset rising administrative and court costs associated with criminal arrests in the village and could generate nearly $800,000 a year in additional revenue. It is modeled after similar plans in Hanover Park, Rolling Meadows and Waukegan."
$800,000 a year in additional revenue, from adding a $500 fee to only the most serious infractions of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and certain drug- and firearm-related offenses (not all, but certain ones). How much more revenue do you think they make from ALL infractions/traffic tickets?
If you seriously think traffic tickets don't play a big part in the revenue of local governments (and yes, in big cities), then you don't know what your'e talking about.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,758
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
ORIGINAL: LesteR723
take it easy killer, not tryin to bag on you, you just came off as a bit angry. But, ya have a reason to! Like i said elsewhere in my post, there are good cops and bad cops. I"m sure you know both personally.
if we werent spending all of our time and bombs and cash on weapons and pay in iraq for ****ign oil, we woulnt have that problem >_<
i hate bush
ORIGINAL: Scooter80
Being that you are not going to waste your time replying to a rebuttal, I will reply to yours with that knowledge. Yeah, I'm a cop. Your skills were at work there! I am glad you did your research. (It's in my profile.)
Your first post said 70% of a town's income comes from tickets, but your reply to mine backed down to 50%. Why the change of heart?
You say your issue is singular, yet you bag all cops, and yet I am the idiot.
I never said anything in your "situation" made me believe your wife had any intention of harming an officer. Hundreds of slain officers came up on situations which they thought no one had the intention of hurting them. I was simply pointing out good officers take into account everything that is going on. You decided to look at it as raping your wife, when in actuality it was shining a light on her lap. I shine my light in everyone's lap. Its usually where there hands are too, ya perv. I am sorry, but if that freaks you out, what was your wife doing wearing anything but jeans? Give me a break, sounds like from your story, you were being the aggressive one, confronting officers about their behavior. Or maybe you just recently watched "Crash" and decided to make your own version.
But, Ghost I am glad you can listen to and enjoy your "good friends'" stories of screwing with other people but have a problem with it happening to you. Hey, maybe it did happen the way you said and those were bad cops, but not all are bad. And being a good one, yes DID take offense to your comments. Any good cop would.
I am not sure where you got that I have an "aggressive nature", that is anything but the case and is reflected in the work I do and in the way I deal with the public that does not act like you. I asked for you to look at the other side of the story, but you can't seem to do that because your type-A personilty makes you know you are right and everyone else is wrong. I just hope that that "southern justice" is there when a cocktail dress wearing fool holds your cop-hating butt up!
Its so easy for you to bag on cops. Hell, it's easy for everyone to do it. I just asked you to look at it from their side of the story too. And now I get jumped on and told I have PMS for pointing out a flaw in Ghost's post. Well, which is the "Valid statistic"? 50% or 70%? And what city, county, state are your statistics for? Oh, and FYI Birdieman, the country IS bankrupt. I find it hard to believe that any educated person thinks that traffic fines are going to make a dent in an eight trillion dollar defecit any time soon. Thats with a "t". And I laugh that you think they play that big a part in local government, let alone the national government. Please, stick your heads back in their holes in the ground and save your one-sided "facts" for the "Enquirer". Maybe those "facts" stick in po-dunk one-officerville, but they're not going to in any decent-sized town, and especially a big city. Parking tickets? Well, now you are getting somewhere.
ORIGINAL: The Ghost
I can only assume Scooter is a cop. And by his very aggressive nature on this post probably one of the ones that most of us would hate to have a run in with. I suppose saying "cops suck" was not the best language to use and I appologize to anyone it offended. I do have a number of good friends who are police or retired police. That being said, most of them are bullies and are over the top type A personalities. I have listened to (and enjoyed) their stories of screwing with people. My issue was singular, not something that happens repeatedly in my life. But was, IMO, handled very unproffesionally and without warrant in the first place. And how do you substantiate saying "you never know what a woman can hide in a cocktail dress" WHAT IN THIS SITUATION WOULD PROVOKE YOU TO BELIEVE THAT MY WIFE HAD INTENTION OF HARMING AN OFFICER!! Scooter,You sir, are an idiot! And if you are a police officer you should consider a career change as it is apparent that "Public Safety" is NOT what's on your mind. I will not waste my time replying to a rebuttal.
I can only assume Scooter is a cop. And by his very aggressive nature on this post probably one of the ones that most of us would hate to have a run in with. I suppose saying "cops suck" was not the best language to use and I appologize to anyone it offended. I do have a number of good friends who are police or retired police. That being said, most of them are bullies and are over the top type A personalities. I have listened to (and enjoyed) their stories of screwing with people. My issue was singular, not something that happens repeatedly in my life. But was, IMO, handled very unproffesionally and without warrant in the first place. And how do you substantiate saying "you never know what a woman can hide in a cocktail dress" WHAT IN THIS SITUATION WOULD PROVOKE YOU TO BELIEVE THAT MY WIFE HAD INTENTION OF HARMING AN OFFICER!! Scooter,You sir, are an idiot! And if you are a police officer you should consider a career change as it is apparent that "Public Safety" is NOT what's on your mind. I will not waste my time replying to a rebuttal.
Your first post said 70% of a town's income comes from tickets, but your reply to mine backed down to 50%. Why the change of heart?
You say your issue is singular, yet you bag all cops, and yet I am the idiot.
I never said anything in your "situation" made me believe your wife had any intention of harming an officer. Hundreds of slain officers came up on situations which they thought no one had the intention of hurting them. I was simply pointing out good officers take into account everything that is going on. You decided to look at it as raping your wife, when in actuality it was shining a light on her lap. I shine my light in everyone's lap. Its usually where there hands are too, ya perv. I am sorry, but if that freaks you out, what was your wife doing wearing anything but jeans? Give me a break, sounds like from your story, you were being the aggressive one, confronting officers about their behavior. Or maybe you just recently watched "Crash" and decided to make your own version.
But, Ghost I am glad you can listen to and enjoy your "good friends'" stories of screwing with other people but have a problem with it happening to you. Hey, maybe it did happen the way you said and those were bad cops, but not all are bad. And being a good one, yes DID take offense to your comments. Any good cop would.
I am not sure where you got that I have an "aggressive nature", that is anything but the case and is reflected in the work I do and in the way I deal with the public that does not act like you. I asked for you to look at the other side of the story, but you can't seem to do that because your type-A personilty makes you know you are right and everyone else is wrong. I just hope that that "southern justice" is there when a cocktail dress wearing fool holds your cop-hating butt up!
Its so easy for you to bag on cops. Hell, it's easy for everyone to do it. I just asked you to look at it from their side of the story too. And now I get jumped on and told I have PMS for pointing out a flaw in Ghost's post. Well, which is the "Valid statistic"? 50% or 70%? And what city, county, state are your statistics for? Oh, and FYI Birdieman, the country IS bankrupt. I find it hard to believe that any educated person thinks that traffic fines are going to make a dent in an eight trillion dollar defecit any time soon. Thats with a "t". And I laugh that you think they play that big a part in local government, let alone the national government. Please, stick your heads back in their holes in the ground and save your one-sided "facts" for the "Enquirer". Maybe those "facts" stick in po-dunk one-officerville, but they're not going to in any decent-sized town, and especially a big city. Parking tickets? Well, now you are getting somewhere.
if we werent spending all of our time and bombs and cash on weapons and pay in iraq for ****ign oil, we woulnt have that problem >_<
i hate bush
in california:
total estimated budget for 2006-7 fiscal year to come:
~255,000,000,000
revenue generated by motor vehicle fees and citations in 2005-2006 fiscal year:
5,243,000,000
5/255 ~~ 2% of total revenue in the state of california
however, on a local level, fines account for a MUCH LARGER percentage of income.
basically, that 2% of the state budget is likely equivalent to a majority of the combined county budgets.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 311
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
ORIGINAL: Black GT
They do play a big part. They play a big part in meeting budgets.
Here are a couple of examples:
Desperate to boost revenue, city extends ticket amnesty
From the above article: "The extended amnesty will give City Hall a better chance to come near the higher end of its goal of generating $4 million to $10 million from Chicago's first parking ticket amnesty since 1987."
The high end of $4 million to $10 million (meaning closer to $10 million), not on all parking tickets, just overdue parking tickets in Chicago. If they get that much money from overdue parking tickets alone, how much do you think they get from ALL traffic tickets?
Pedestrians Could Get Fined For Crossing On Red
From the above article: "Although improving traffic flow is supposedly behind the crackdown plan, the cash-strapped Daley administration has no doubt calculated the enormous revenue flow that might result."
Enormous revenue from jaywalkers. How enormous do you think the revenue is from ALL traffic tickets?
$500 fee added to traffic tickets
From the above article (Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago):
"Village officials said Monday that the new fee will partially offset rising administrative and court costs associated with criminal arrests in the village and could generate nearly $800,000 a year in additional revenue. It is modeled after similar plans in Hanover Park, Rolling Meadows and Waukegan."
$800,000 a year in additional revenue, from adding a $500 fee to only the most serious infractions of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and certain drug- and firearm-related offenses (not all, but certain ones). How much more revenue do you think they make from ALL infractions/traffic tickets?
If you seriously think traffic tickets don't play a big part in the revenue of local governments (and yes, in big cities), then you don't know what your'e talking about.
They do play a big part. They play a big part in meeting budgets.
Here are a couple of examples:
Desperate to boost revenue, city extends ticket amnesty
From the above article: "The extended amnesty will give City Hall a better chance to come near the higher end of its goal of generating $4 million to $10 million from Chicago's first parking ticket amnesty since 1987."
The high end of $4 million to $10 million (meaning closer to $10 million), not on all parking tickets, just overdue parking tickets in Chicago. If they get that much money from overdue parking tickets alone, how much do you think they get from ALL traffic tickets?
Pedestrians Could Get Fined For Crossing On Red
From the above article: "Although improving traffic flow is supposedly behind the crackdown plan, the cash-strapped Daley administration has no doubt calculated the enormous revenue flow that might result."
Enormous revenue from jaywalkers. How enormous do you think the revenue is from ALL traffic tickets?
$500 fee added to traffic tickets
From the above article (Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago):
"Village officials said Monday that the new fee will partially offset rising administrative and court costs associated with criminal arrests in the village and could generate nearly $800,000 a year in additional revenue. It is modeled after similar plans in Hanover Park, Rolling Meadows and Waukegan."
$800,000 a year in additional revenue, from adding a $500 fee to only the most serious infractions of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and certain drug- and firearm-related offenses (not all, but certain ones). How much more revenue do you think they make from ALL infractions/traffic tickets?
If you seriously think traffic tickets don't play a big part in the revenue of local governments (and yes, in big cities), then you don't know what your'e talking about.
Thank you for proving my point, but somehow still trying to stick it to me. I NEVER said traffic fines do not play a part, I simply said they are nowhere near the extremes quoted by others and that they should research before they post of what they do not know. And your examples are not even a big part. Look up the annual budgets for your examples and tell us the percentages. Inquiring minds want to know!
Edited to add reply to Sleeper:
Thansk for the info Sleeper. I must not know what I am talking about then. 2% IS pretty close to 50, right!
4th Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,138
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
ORIGINAL: Scooter80
I think you proved MY point nicely BalckGT. Do you really think (even the high end of) $10million is anywhere close to the annual City of Chicago budget? And $800,000 for the commercial mecca that is Hoffman Estates? These figures are nowhere near even a double digit percentage of the annual budgets. And certainly not the 70 or even 50% quoted by others.
Thank you for proving my point, but somehow still trying to stick it to me. I NEVER said traffic fines do not play a part, I simply said they are nowhere near the extremes quoted by others and that they should research before they post of what they do not know. And your examples are not even a big part. Look up the annual budgets for your examples and tell us the percentages. Inquiring minds want to know!
Edited to add reply to Sleeper:
Thansk for the info Sleeper. I must not know what I am talking about then. 2% IS pretty close to 50, right!
ORIGINAL: Black GT
They do play a big part. They play a big part in meeting budgets.
Here are a couple of examples:
Desperate to boost revenue, city extends ticket amnesty
From the above article: "The extended amnesty will give City Hall a better chance to come near the higher end of its goal of generating $4 million to $10 million from Chicago's first parking ticket amnesty since 1987."
The high end of $4 million to $10 million (meaning closer to $10 million), not on all parking tickets, just overdue parking tickets in Chicago. If they get that much money from overdue parking tickets alone, how much do you think they get from ALL traffic tickets?
Pedestrians Could Get Fined For Crossing On Red
From the above article: "Although improving traffic flow is supposedly behind the crackdown plan, the cash-strapped Daley administration has no doubt calculated the enormous revenue flow that might result."
Enormous revenue from jaywalkers. How enormous do you think the revenue is from ALL traffic tickets?
$500 fee added to traffic tickets
From the above article (Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago):
"Village officials said Monday that the new fee will partially offset rising administrative and court costs associated with criminal arrests in the village and could generate nearly $800,000 a year in additional revenue. It is modeled after similar plans in Hanover Park, Rolling Meadows and Waukegan."
$800,000 a year in additional revenue, from adding a $500 fee to only the most serious infractions of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and certain drug- and firearm-related offenses (not all, but certain ones). How much more revenue do you think they make from ALL infractions/traffic tickets?
If you seriously think traffic tickets don't play a big part in the revenue of local governments (and yes, in big cities), then you don't know what your'e talking about.
They do play a big part. They play a big part in meeting budgets.
Here are a couple of examples:
Desperate to boost revenue, city extends ticket amnesty
From the above article: "The extended amnesty will give City Hall a better chance to come near the higher end of its goal of generating $4 million to $10 million from Chicago's first parking ticket amnesty since 1987."
The high end of $4 million to $10 million (meaning closer to $10 million), not on all parking tickets, just overdue parking tickets in Chicago. If they get that much money from overdue parking tickets alone, how much do you think they get from ALL traffic tickets?
Pedestrians Could Get Fined For Crossing On Red
From the above article: "Although improving traffic flow is supposedly behind the crackdown plan, the cash-strapped Daley administration has no doubt calculated the enormous revenue flow that might result."
Enormous revenue from jaywalkers. How enormous do you think the revenue is from ALL traffic tickets?
$500 fee added to traffic tickets
From the above article (Hoffman Estates is a suburb of Chicago):
"Village officials said Monday that the new fee will partially offset rising administrative and court costs associated with criminal arrests in the village and could generate nearly $800,000 a year in additional revenue. It is modeled after similar plans in Hanover Park, Rolling Meadows and Waukegan."
$800,000 a year in additional revenue, from adding a $500 fee to only the most serious infractions of driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and certain drug- and firearm-related offenses (not all, but certain ones). How much more revenue do you think they make from ALL infractions/traffic tickets?
If you seriously think traffic tickets don't play a big part in the revenue of local governments (and yes, in big cities), then you don't know what your'e talking about.
Thank you for proving my point, but somehow still trying to stick it to me. I NEVER said traffic fines do not play a part, I simply said they are nowhere near the extremes quoted by others and that they should research before they post of what they do not know. And your examples are not even a big part. Look up the annual budgets for your examples and tell us the percentages. Inquiring minds want to know!
Edited to add reply to Sleeper:
Thansk for the info Sleeper. I must not know what I am talking about then. 2% IS pretty close to 50, right!
They do play a big part. They play a big part in meeting budgets.
The examples I posted are small, so of course they are nowhere near the total budget numbers. Common sense. The overall revenue is going to be much greater when combined with all ticket revenues.
$10 million is only for overdue parking tickets. $800,000 is only the added fees to the three most serious traffic infractions. When is the last time you wrote a ticket for jaywalking? How many more traffic tickets do you write than jaywalking tickets? And if jaywalking tickets result in "enormous revenue flow" (as per the article), how much more enormous is the revenue flow of all traffic tickets?
If you want to try to refute anything, look up the numbers yourself and post them. So far all you've had is hear-say, with no numbers to back anything up. Show us some of that research.
2nd Gear Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 311
From:
RE: Stupidest ticket ever
OK. Here, I took just a short bit of time to confirm my stance. Even though I knew I was correct, because I only post of what I know. Semantics, I guess. Anyways, get your ADOBE ready. Click here for the proposal of the City of Chicago's annual budget.
Highlights:
Total annual Budget= $5,088,400,000. Now, explained on page 17 and then tabled in page 18 is the "other resources" section of income which would include, but not be limited to traffic fines and parking fines. (Since BlackGT deemed it necessary to add parking fines.)
That amount is $663,300,000.
Total % of budget from fines= $663,300,000 divided by $5,088,400,000= <13% due to many other sources of income in that category. (ordinance violations, clerk fees, permit fees, developer fees, overdue charges, and any other government fees you can think of.)
Couple that with the fact that the public safety category of expenses is 25% of the ENTIRE appropriation budget and 56% of the annual salaries (pgs. 26, 27 and 28), and anyone who says police and traffic tickets are a money-making governement tool is a fool. Bottom line is we can only hope to help employ ourselves by writing tickets. Yes, public safety includes firemen, paramedics, etc. But when is the last time you had a ticket from a fireman? Have I proven my point yet, cuz I have a public to serve!
Is this research to par BlackGT? (had wrong screenname in there for a min. Sorry Sleeper!)
Highlights:
Total annual Budget= $5,088,400,000. Now, explained on page 17 and then tabled in page 18 is the "other resources" section of income which would include, but not be limited to traffic fines and parking fines. (Since BlackGT deemed it necessary to add parking fines.)
That amount is $663,300,000.
Total % of budget from fines= $663,300,000 divided by $5,088,400,000= <13% due to many other sources of income in that category. (ordinance violations, clerk fees, permit fees, developer fees, overdue charges, and any other government fees you can think of.)
Couple that with the fact that the public safety category of expenses is 25% of the ENTIRE appropriation budget and 56% of the annual salaries (pgs. 26, 27 and 28), and anyone who says police and traffic tickets are a money-making governement tool is a fool. Bottom line is we can only hope to help employ ourselves by writing tickets. Yes, public safety includes firemen, paramedics, etc. But when is the last time you had a ticket from a fireman? Have I proven my point yet, cuz I have a public to serve!
Is this research to par BlackGT? (had wrong screenname in there for a min. Sorry Sleeper!)