HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9183 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9183
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council January 26, 2010
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SUBJECT: State of Texas Comptrollers Audit of Criminal Cost and Fees
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The purpose of this informal report is to provide the City Council with an update on the State of
Texas Comptrollers Audit of the City of Fort Worth Criminal Cost and Fees.
As you may recall significant programmatic and account cleanup was performed by the Municipal
Court staff to resolve distribution errors and correct account balances. The primary goals were
to:
1. Validate the accuracy of the fines and fees collected by Municipal Court
2. Validate the accuracy of the distribution of Court Costs
3. Validate the amount owed by CFW to the State
4. Validate the amount owed by CFW to citizens
5. Validate that converted case data from Mainframe into CourtView transferred
accurately.
This work was completed in March 2009 and current collections are being distributed correctly.
Prior to completing programmatic cleanup process the City of Fort Worth received official
notification in May 2008, that the State Comptrollers Office would conduct a routine audit of the
criminal costs and fees remitted by the City of Fort Worth on a quarterly basis, the audit field work
was initiated in April 2009 and concluded in September 2009.
The dates eligible for review were January 2005 through December 2008. The final state audit
report was has been received and requires a remittance of $2,147,800.93 payable to the state.
This amount is consistent with the original estimate provided to the Fort Worth City Council by
staff in February 2008 and subsequent presentations.
To bring closure to this project the following actions will occur:
1. Remit $2,147,800.93 to the state for the outstanding liability;
2. Transfer $24,653.95 to reimburse Transportation and Public Works for the overpayment
of Photo Enforcement Fees; and
3. Transfer $3,400,000 in remaining funds from the court liability account to the City's
general revenue account.
(The overpayment referenced in item 2 is a result of the comptroller's decision that the $25 late fee
and NSF fee, originally included by the City of Fort Worth, are not subject to remittance to the State on
a quarterly basis for Photo Enforcement collections.)
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Deidra Emerson, Municipal Court
Services Director at (817) 392-6711.
Dare A. Fisseler, P.E.
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS