Kane County considering new court fee hike to help pay for security

While Kane County is set to nearly double one of the fees charged in cases requiring a court appearance, at least for now, officials aren't concerned the hike will create a problem for those who can't afford it.

The increased fee would help pay $2.56 million to provide security officers for the 53,412 cases in county court rooms this year. The fee already in place to help with that expense was capped by state law at $25, but county officials successfully lobbied in Springfield to lift the cap.

According to a recent study, in order to cover all security costs, the fee must be $47.90 - which the county now can charge.

County board member Brian Pollock, who led the effort to change the fee cap legislation, said he didn't initially know how much the fee increase would be. But now that he does, he said, it's not setting off any alarms about adding barriers to the legal system for the poor.

"We had to do a cost study to see what the fee actually would be," Pollock said. "And it shows that we're actually subsidizing the cost a lot. It's not something that we want to do, obviously. But that's what a user fee is about. We want the costs borne by the user rather than all the taxpayers."

Kane County court users now are shouldering much more of the costs than they used to, as the county board has pushed through a number of fee hikes over the past few years.

In 2011 alone, the board approved more than 50 court fee increases ranging from $5 on low-level civil damage cases to $125 on major forcible entry case filings. The board also enacted a $10 co-pay for jail inmate medical costs and a $10 fee on all felony and misdemeanor criminal cases to fund the Child Advocacy Center.

Pollock's other major lobbying effort this year was legislation allowing the county to institute an extra fee of up to $30 on all lawsuits to help pay for courthouse construction.

The full county board must still approve the court security fee increase.

A recent nationwide investigation by National Public Radio found putting more of the costs of the civil and criminal justice system on defendants and offenders causes the poor to face harsher treatment than people with better financial means who commit the same crimes.

Pollock, who is an attorney, said no groups who lobbied against the fees in Springfield. He said he's conscious of the increased fee possibly presenting a hardship for some, but he can't determine by himself how much is too much.

"That's a policy decision that the entire board is going to make," Pollock said.