HOUTZDALE – Magisterial District Judge James B. Glass, Houtzdale, has issued his annual report to inform the public on the activities of his office.
In 2018, Glass’ office had 1,537 total offenses filed with gross receipts of $184,167.64.
Total offenses don’t include: 47 miscellaneous dockets or 98 video arraignments. Of the total offenses, 870 cases were traffic citations.
Of the collected gross receipts, the following disbursements were made: State Department of Revenue, $129,259.55; Clearfield County, $27,295.85; and municipalities, $6,647.40.
According to the report, retention to businesses and private individuals amounted to $3,081.12 and service fees for constables was $9,548.23.
The office’s 27 municipalities received the following: Brisbin Borough, $44.68; Burnside Borough, $295.14; Coalport Borough, $739.56; Grampian Borough, $25; Houtzdale Borough, $652.44; Irvona Borough, $79.75; Mahaffey Borough, $100.14; Wallaceton Borough, $162.08; Westover Borough, $89.73; Beccaria Township, $525.58; Bell Township, $174.56; Bigler Township, $2,016.44; Boggs Township, $326.33; Burnside Township, $146.31; Chest Township, $75; Ferguson Township, $87.35; Greenwood Township, $225; Gulich Township, $270.14; Jordan Township, $5.92; Penn Township, $125; Woodward Township, $454.43; and Decatur Township, $233.43 (in accordance with the regional police department).
Violations of the School Compulsory Attendance Act and Use of Tobacco in Schools Prohibited resulted in $70 for the Moshannon Valley School District and $50 for the Harmony School District.
Glass explained that the funds only included fines for violations of summary offenses and local ordinances that occurred within each municipality.
If a municipality has a police department, it includes one-half of the traffic fines. Traffic violations made by state police are submitted to the Department of Revenue and then are partially refunded to the proper municipality once a year.
Glass noted that he and his staff are paid a set salary from either Clearfield County or the commonwealth. He said they do not receive any funds paid directly to the court.
Glass said his records are subject to auditing by Clearfield County, the commonwealth and the aforementioned political subdivisions. All trials and hearings are open to the public, and records are available for public inspection.