Small Utah town of Sunset big on fines

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William Payne talks about his traffic ticket outside the Sunset Justice Court on June 18. The Sunset court collects more fines and fees than some cities with 10 times the population.

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Sunset » For running a red light on the city's Main Street, William Payne appeared in the Sunset Justice Court last month, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $105 fine.

It's a scene that plays often in Sunset. Although it has just 5,000 people, Sunset collected $635,000 in fines and fees in fiscal year 2008.

That puts Sunset in league with much larger Utah cities, according to a review by The Salt Lake Tribune and students in the Investigative and In-Depth Journalism course at Weber State University. Draper, which has more than seven times the population of Sunset, collected $884,000 that year.

Taylorsville, which has almost 12 times the population

Judge Jerald Jensen presides in the Sunset Justice Court on June 18. The Sunset court collects more fines and fees than some cities with 10 times the population. (Rick Egan / The Salt Lake Tribune)

But Syracuse, which has 21,000 people, collected just $218,843 in fines and fees.

For Sunset, the 2008 total was a decrease from the previous year, when the city collected $669,755 in fines and fees.

However, Susan Hale, Sunset city recorder, said she expects collections to increase in coming years. "[The city] granted police officers overtime to work the warrants," Hale said.

That means people who before may not have paid their traffic fines or appeared for court now will have Sunset police pursuing them.

Justice courts in Utah adjudicate low-level misdemeanors and most traffic offenses. Statistics published by the state show the Sunset Justice

That's more traffic cases than were filed in justice courts in Syracuse, Woods Cross, South Weber, Clinton, Fruit Heights or West Bountiful -- other Davis County towns with populations similar to or larger than Sunset.

For a case to go to the court, a police officer must first make an arrest or write a citation.

Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn said his department does not have ticket quotas and does not make use of "speed traps," where officers sit in wait for speeders.

"I've got officers here that probably write upward of 100 citations in a month's time," Eborn said. "I have others that probably do 30 or 40 in a month's time."

Eborn said he has never heard complaints about the justice court generating too much money. The Tribune asked for a more detailed breakdown of Sunset's fines and forfeitures, which the city was not able to provide.

Money generated by the court goes into the city's general fund. "It helps, but I don't know that [the city] is totally reliant on it," Hale said.

Payne, 17, said he received his ticket by watching a police officer. Payne was paying so much attention to a police officer parked on the side of the road, he did not notice the light had turned red.

The police officer who attracted Payne's attention was the one who wrote his ticket.

Outside of the Sunset Justice Court, Payne admitted he deserved the ticket but said of the fine: "For an honest mistake, it's a lot."

ncarlisle@sltrib.com