Could Texarkana bill Miller County for retrieving suspects on felony warrants issued by city police?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 2014. Ask about yours and see what current Arkansas law means for your facts, with citations you can check.
Plain-English summary
The Texarkana Arkansas Police Department incurred costs sending officers and equipment, or using an extradition service, to bring back suspects who left the jurisdiction on felony warrants. The city wanted to bill Miller County. The AG concluded that, without an enforceable agreement supporting payment, the county was likely under no obligation to reimburse the city.
The AG said a city or county needs statutory authority to collect expenses or fees incurred in obtaining a criminal conviction. A court must also enter a judgment for costs before such amounts may be collected. When a court adjudges prosecution costs, the defendant pays, and the defendant's property may be seized and sold for that purpose. If adjudged felony-case costs are uncollected, the county where conviction occurred may be responsible in some circumstances.
Those rules do not give a city authority to bill a county for its own retrieval expenses, the AG said, and he found no other authority for that collection effort. Only a court can decide whether particular fees or expenses may be included in a final criminal judgment. The AG also thought state laws governing judgments, costs, fees and fines were likely intended to occupy the field and prevent local regulation of that subject.
What this means for you
City and county officials
For the costs described in this opinion, the AG's conclusion depends on the absence of an enforceable city-county agreement. The city cannot treat a possible future judgment for costs against a defendant as authority to send the county its own bill. The opinion leaves the inclusion of any particular expense in a criminal judgment to a court.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2014. Check current law and any city-county agreement before applying its conclusion to later expenses.
Common questions
Did the AG say the county had to reimburse the city?
No. He said the county was likely under no obligation without an enforceable agreement.
Could retrieval costs appear in a judgment for costs?
The AG did not decide that question for any particular expense. He said only a court could determine which fees or expenses lawfully belong in the final judgment.
Who pays costs adjudged in a criminal case?
The opinion says the defendant pays court-adjudged costs in the first instance. In some felony cases, uncollected adjudged costs may fall to the county where the conviction occurred. That does not authorize a separate city invoice to the county.
Could an agreement change the city-county result?
The AG expressly left open an enforceable agreement supporting the city's collection effort.
Background and statutory framework
The opinion distinguishes a court's judgment for prosecution costs from the city's proposed direct billing of another government. It says statutory procedures for payment and collection of adjudged costs contain no authorization for the city's proposed county bill. The AG also regarded state law on criminal judgments and costs as likely exclusive in that field.
Source
Original opinion text
STATE OF ARKANSAS
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Dustin McDaniel
Opinion No. 2014-100
December 11, 2014
The Honorable Carlton D. Jones
Prosecuting Attorney
Eighth Judicial District South
Miller County Courthouse, Room 6
Texarkana, Arkansas 71854
Dear Mr. Jones:
You have requested my opinion concerning costs incurred by the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department (TAPD) in retrieving suspects on felony warrants obtained by the TAPD. You identify the costs as those incurred in sending officers and equipment to retrieve a suspect who has left the jurisdiction; or alternatively, the cost of employing an extradition service to return the suspect for service of the warrant. As further background for your question, you report that the City of Texarkana, Arkansas primarily uses its bed allotment in the Bi-State Criminal Justice Center ("Justice Center") to hold misdemeanor offenders, and that felony prisoners are booked in at the Justice Center and subsequently transported to the Miller County Detention Center.
You ask in this regard: "Which entity bears the cost of retrieving the suspect on the felony warrant obtained by the TAPD, the City of Texarkana, Arkansas or Miller County, Arkansas?"
RESPONSE
Some initial clarification of the question is necessary. It is my understanding that your question is prompted by an effort on the part of the City to collect these costs from the County. That is, the City seeks to bill the County for the costs you have identified.
Absent some enforceable agreement between the City and the County that would support such a collection effort, it is my opinion that the County is likely under no obligation to pay the City for costs of this sort.
DISCUSSION
The right of a city (or county) to collect any expenses or fees incurred in order to obtain a criminal conviction is wholly dependent upon statutory authorization. Additionally, a "judgment for costs" must be entered by a court before any such expenses or fees can be collected:
In judgments against the defendant, a judgment for costs, in addition to the other punishment, shall be rendered. This judgment shall be taxed by the clerk and shall be for the benefit of the officers rendering the service.
Costs included in the judgment are to be "paid as directed in the act regulating criminal proceedings." This refers, in relevant part, to A.C.A. §§ 16-92-101-105 (Repl. 2006). Under that set of laws, costs that have been adjudged by the court are to be paid by the defendant, and the defendant's property may be seized and sold for that purpose. If uncollected, the costs adjudged in a felony case may be the responsibility of the county where the conviction is had.
The allowance and recovery of the costs of prosecution thus depend wholly upon statutory authorization. In some circumstances, a county may be responsible for costs of prosecution. But only a court can speak to whether any particular expenses or fees may lawfully be included in the final judgment for costs.
Most importantly for purposes of your question, none of the statutorily-prescribed procedures governing the payment and collection of these costs offers authority for a city to collect such costs from a county. Nor has my research yielded any other source of authority for a collection effort of this sort. Arkansas Code Title 16, chapters 90, 92 and 93, address, respectively, the issues of judgment and sentence, costs, fees and fines. In my opinion, this set of laws so pervasively covers the field that it is likely intended to be exclusive, thus precluding any local regulation in the area.
Absent some enforceable agreement between the City and the County, therefore, it is my opinion that the County is likely under no obligation to pay the City for the costs you have identified.
Deputy Attorney General Elisabeth A. Walker prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
DUSTIN McDANIEL
ATTORNEY GENERAL
DM/EAW:cyh
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