ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: June 19, 2002
Author: Terry Corrigan /Lynda Camley

RTS No. 2776

CC File No. 1756

Council: June 25, 2002

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Corporate Services and Director of Legal Services
SUBJECT:	Provincial Courts Cost Recovery - By-law Fines Processing

RECOMMENDATIONS

THAT the City reimburse the Province the amount of $200,000 for the period July 1 to December 31, 2002 (annual amount of $400,000) to provide by-law prosecution through the Provincial Traffic Registry; the source of financing for 2002 be the contingency reserve.

CONCURRENCE OF THE CITY MANAGER

The City Manager concurs with the recommendations of this report.

COUNCIL POLICY

There is no Council policy.

PURPOSE

This report informs Council of the intention of the Province to levy a charge against the City to recover some of the costs of prosecuting the City's by-law fines through the Provincial Courts at Robson Square.

BACKGROUND

The Ministry of Attorney General has informed the City that it intends to recovery a portion of the costs of the Robson Square Traffic Court Registry. The City accounts for approximately 75% of all by-law cases processed by the courts. The total costs of running the by-law courts is estimated to be $1.0 million annually. The Ministry has informed the City that it is also looking at cost recoveries for Victoria, Surrey and North Vancouver. The Ministry also informed the City that the recovery is consistent with the fact that it will be assessing costs against a number of other municipalities to recover costs of operating circuit courts throughout the Province.

DISCUSSION

The Traffic Court Registry plays a significant role in the City's by-law enforcement process.

The Provincial Traffic Court Registry becomes directly involved with City by-laws at the summons stage. Approximately 15,000 summons per month are sworn by the Justice of the Peace at the Traffic Court Registry. The total revenue generated after the summons stage is approximately $3.1 million per year. Although many payments are received as a result of the summons being mailed or served by the City's process servers before a court appearance, Court prosecutions account for approximately $0.5 million per year.

Apart from the revenue generated from the court process, the fact that the City can prosecute offenders in the Provincial Court system adds credibility to parking enforcement.

If the Ministry can not recover some of the costs of the Traffic Registry, the court will have to reduce staff to meet its funding targets. This could backlog the prosecution of outstanding by-law matters and affect enforcement.

The City and the Ministry have explored a number of ways to make the process more efficient such as the use of electronic signatures of the Justice of the Peace to swear summons, allowing City staff access to the court booking system (Justin), consolidating tickets for multiple offenders for prosecution, etc. Unfortunately, none appear to be a "quick fix".

There is also a reluctance to invest in changes to the current system given pending changes to the Court system. The Ministry has indicated that it will be introducing legislation in either the fall session of 2002 or spring session of 2003 that will significantly revise the by-law court system. The proposed revisions will give the City new powers to pursue collection of fines and reduce the overall costs of prosecution. The changes will have an impact on the methodology currently followed by the City. We will report back on any impacts on City operations.

The Ministry has indicated that it will be issuing a discussion paper on proposed changes shortly.

FUNDING

The proposal by the Province to recover costs was communicated to the City after the 2002 budget was approved by Council. It is recommended that the cost be financed from the contingency reserve.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver