Your lead foot could have a silver lining, according to Cheryl Clark, Ottawa County Treasurer.
“When you have a ticket, the state constitution requires that all penalties collected on the violations be divided into court costs, statutory fees, and penal fines. So, the penal fines are the thing that we deal with at the county treasurer’s office.”
Those fines go into a separate account which earns interest through the year.
“And then, once a year in July, we distribute all of those funds to the various libraries throughout the county, depending on their population, which we get from the state.”
This year, more than $682,000 went to Ottawa County’s nine libraries, funding essential services and operations.
“Back in the day, we would have up to like $900, 000 but it's been averaging right around $700, 000 or little bit under the last few years.”
The law requires fines support public libraries and county law libraries.
The Library of Michigan certifies the amounts distributed to the libraries by the counties.
