HOUTZDALE – James L. Hawkins, District Justice 46-3-04, has released his 23rd annual report to inform the public of the activities of his Houtzdale office, which in 2010 had 1373 total offenses filed with total gross receipts of $276,638.15. Total offenses do not include 80 miscellaneous dockets or 40 video arraignments. Of the total offenses, traffic citations led the way with 613.
Of the gross receipts collected in 2010, the following disbursements were made: State Department of Revenue: $103,189.42; Clearfield County: $30,694.49; Municipalities, $6,886.16.
Restitution to businesses and private individuals were $10,475.93.
Server fees for constable service were $15,676.23.
The 23 municipalities served received the following: Boroughs: Brisbin $278.92, Burnside $242.93; Coalport $565.55; Glen Hope $151.00; Houtzdale $730.07; Irvona $176.85; Lumber City $37.40; Mahaffey $154.62; Newburg $109.89; Ramey $78.90.
Townships: Beccaria $352.75; Bell $20.28; Bigler $630.07; Burnside $332.95; Ferguson $59.43; Gulich $230.51; Jordan $83.92; Knox $209.72; Woodward $2441.40; Decatur $1260.17 (coverage for Houtzdale Borough.)
Due to violations of the school compulsory attendance act, and use of tobacco in schools prohibited, Moshannon Valley High School received $128.20, and Harmony High School received $86.92.
Hawkins stated this money only includes fines for violations of summary offenses and local ordinances that took place within each municipality. If a municipality has a local police department, it includes one-half of the traffic fines. Traffic violations made by the state police are sent to the Department of Revenue and then are partially refunded to the proper municipality once a year.
It should be noted that the district justice and staff are paid a set salary from either the County of Clearfield or the Commonwealth and do not directly receive any money paid to the court. The records are subject to auditing by Clearfield County, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the aforementioned political subdivisions. All trials and hearings are open to the public, and the records are available for public inspection.
