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BRIDGET HALL GRUMETFees shoot up as a result of a 1998 decision that will save county taxpayers $4.6-million in the coming year.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Here's some free advice that could save you money:
If you're planning on suing somebody, you might want to file the paperwork soon. Just don't drive too fast to the courthouse.
The cost of doing business at the courthouse will go up dramatically on July 1, with higher fees for everything from filing lawsuits (up from $109.50 to $255) to paying traffic tickets (up about $34.50 a pop).
The sharpest increase will be in the cost of filing for divorce, which will spike from $195 to $363 for a nonsimplified dissolution.
"We're expecting a rush in the next week, probably mostly from attorneys trying to file before July 1," Rosalyn Fenton, the director of court services for Clerk of Courts Jed Pittman, said Thursday.
Don't blame the county for the higher fees, though. The rate hikes were the state's answer to the hot-potato question of who should pay for running the court systems across Florida.
Voters decided in 1998 to pass the court operation costs from the county governments to the state.
Legislators, in turn, decided to pass those costs onto the people who use the courthouse, in the form of higher fees.
"This has become a fee-for-service system where a member of the public is paying (the actual cost) of the service they are requesting," Fenton said.
There is a sunny side for Pasco County property owners.
The county - read: the taxpayers - will save nearly $4.6-million in the coming year because it won't have to fund as much of Pittman's budget.
The county still has to pay for the clerk's facilities and computer systems, among other things. But overall the county's share of Pittman's budget for the coming year has dropped to $3-million.
The clerk's office is spreading the word about the fees in mailings to all Pasco attorneys and the presidents of neighboring counties' bar associations, as well as on its Web site, www.pascoclerk.com "A lot of this is new to us," Pittman said, "but we'll do our best with it."
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com