Commissioners considering court fee increase

The Lincoln County Justice Court fee schedule could be changing next month, if the commissioners approve the request of Justice of the Peace Jay Sheffield.

Sheffield appeared before the commissioners July 29 to request the county adopt a standardized fee schedule for the justice court. Sheffield said the change would bring the court’s fee schedule into alignment with the fee structures of other courts throughout the state. The fees for Lincoln County’s justice court, Sheffield said, have not been changed in more than 15 years.

“I have been unable to locate the order setting the fees charged in Justice Court,” Sheffield wrote in a letter to the commissioners. “The fees that we currently charge are grossly insufficient to recover our costs in both time and materials and are far less than those charged in other courts of similar size. According to my senior clerk, the Justice Court fee schedule has not been reviewed or adjusted for the 15 years that she has been here.”

Sheffield proposed the commissioners adopt the fee schedule used by District Court for the same or similar services. The schedule, Sheffield said, is reviewed biennially by the legislature to ensure fairness and reasonability. The fees are published in Montana Code Annotated, Title 25, Section 1-201.

Sheffield said the fees are intended to cover the cost incurred by the Justice Court for services above and beyond the every day copying of orders, motions and documents of a similar nature.

“These would include things like court record checks for criminal history backgrounds, normally going back seven years, providing copies of case files and transcripts, case transfer fees, fees for providing certifications with official seals, fees for filing certain types of appeals and fees for preparing, scanning or emailing documents, etc.,” Sheffield wrote.

The commissioners passed a motion to address the issue in a public hearing to be held Aug. 19 at 10 a.m.