The Eden Prairie Police Department Blog breaks down how the price you pay is divvied up.
Does the City use citations as a way to make money? No. The City receives a portion of the money collected when someone pays a citation. Eden Prairie’s portion goes into the City’s general fund which is used to pay for general city operations. For example, a basic speeding ticket in Hennepin County will cost a driver $145. The breakdown of the money is as follows:
- $75 surcharge. The surcharge is set by the Minnesota Legislature and goes directly to the state.
- $67 fine. The fine is set by state statute. Eighty percent ($53.60) of the fine is returned to the jurisdiction where the ticket was issued. The remaining 20% goes to the state court system. In 2008, the City of Eden Prairie received $383,759 in fine money for citations issued in Eden Prairie.
- $3 Law Library fee. This fee goes to support the state Law Library in St. Paul which is open to the public.
Despite the initial answer of no, it seems the answer is really kinda, yeah. I suppose there’s a distinction between “using citations to make money” and “happening to make money off of citations.”
You can feel good about the Law Library money, though. Maybe even visit it. Or just look at pictures.
