Hudsonhubtimes.com - Murky future in store for Ohio mayor's courts

by Lauren Krupar

Associate Editor

Boston Heights officials, worried that the village's future funding is uncertain, oppose two state bills seeking to eliminate mayor's courts.

"It's going to be a big blow to us if this passes," said Boston Heights Mayor Raymond C. McFall, adding the money generated by the village's mayor's court comprises one-fourth, or $350,000, of Boston Heights' annual budget. "We'd lose quite a bit of money and would just have to make cuts."

If the mayor's court is eliminated, McFall said all of the court's funds would go to the municipal court, which could reimburse the village.

"I don't know how much of [the $350,000] would be gone until I read what the bill says," McFall said. "I don't have the slightest idea how much we'd get back from the muni court."

Boston Height's mayor's court is one of approximately 500 courts statewide that would be affected by a bill introduced Nov. 8 by State Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls), who represents District 27, which includes Boston Heights.

The Senate bill would eliminate mayor's courts while providing an option to communities with more than 1,600 people to create a community court with a magistrate appointed by the area municipal court.

"Eliminating mayor's courts is a modernizing step for our state and its justice system," Coughlin said in a press release announcing the bill's introduction in the Senate.

Hudson Council member John Jeffers, an attorney who led the movement to eliminate Hudson's mayor's court in 2006, said mayor's courts should be eliminated statewide as a "general principal."

"Mayor's courts are fraught with danger," Jeffers said. "It lends itself to involving politics so that the court only becomes an income-generator."

The Village of Boston Heights has hosted a mayor's court since it was incorporated as a village in 1923, McFall said.

"Mayor's courts are more convenient for people," he added. "They don't have to wait for a long period of time to come to court."

The Boston Heights court, run by an attorney hired by the village, convenes every week. The court hears minor misdemeanor, traffic violation and first-time operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated offenses.

If the mayor's court is eliminated in Boston Heights, the village could follow the example of Hudson, which eliminated the city's mayor's court in January 2006.

"The elimination of mayor's court meant that we sent all of our tickets to Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court," Hudson Mayor William Currin said, adding the move also impacted Hudson's budget, but he did not have those figures immediately available. "When we had the mayor's court here, we not only collected the fines, we collected the court costs as well."

Now, Hudson receives only the fines imposed on the offender by the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court, which can be lowered at the presiding judge's discretion, Currin said. All court costs are retained by the municipal court.

While Currin added he agrees with some elements of the bills, he added the proposed elimination of mayor's courts has far-reaching ramifications.

"There should never be any politics in mayor's courts," Currin said. "However, if all of the mayor's courts were dismantled, our municipal court system would be overwhelmed."

E-mail: lkrupar@recordpub.com

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