NILES Court raises reinstatement fees

The increase will go into the municipal court's coffers.
NILES -- People who don't pay their traffic tickets in Niles Municipal Court will have to pay a higher fee to have their driver's licenses reinstated, according to the clerk of courts.
People convicted of traffic offenses often make arrangements to make payments to pay court fines and costs.
"As long as they make the payments, we don't have a problem with it," said Paul Lawrence, clerk of courts.
If they fail to make those payments, the court notifies the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles which suspends the offender's driver's license. A reinstatement fee must be paid by the driver.
The court is raising the reinstatement fee from $15 to $40 effective immediately. The $15 fee, which has been in place for several years, will continue to be sent to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The remaining $25 will go into the municipal court's coffers.
Overdue compensation: "We do all of the paperwork [on the fees], but we've never received anything for it," Lawrence said.
There's also a change for people who arrange payments on fines for criminal offenses. If they stop making payments, a warrant block is placed on their record.
"If a police officer stops them or picks them up for any reason, they'll see the warrant block," Lawrence said.
The officer will inform them of the block.
"There's no arrest for it," he said. "They'll just tell them to contact our office."
The block prevents a person from renewing his or her driver's license. He or she must pay the $40 fee and continue making the payments to remove the block, Lawrence said.