A. A person convicted in the Town’s municipal court of a violation of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1381 et seq., either after trial or pursuant to plea agreement, shall be assessed an administrative charge to cover all or part of the administrative costs and expenses directly incurred by the Town’s law enforcement entity in the investigation of violations of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1381 et seq. The administrative charge constitutes a debt of the person, and may be collected by the Town.

B. The Town’s municipal court shall assess and collect the administrative charge on behalf of the Town. The court shall set forth the requirement and amount of the administrative charge as a separate item in all orders and judgments, and not as part of any sentence or probation conditions imposed by the court in the criminal case.

C. No person whom the Town’s municipal court finds to be indigent shall be required to pay the monetary charge authorized in this section. If the court finds that a person is able to pay only a portion of the administrative charge as calculated pursuant to subsection 5-8-1(D) below, the court may waive that portion that the court finds the person is unable to pay.

D. The Town’s chief law enforcement officer shall, on a periodic basis, determine the amount of costs and expenses, including but not limited to officer salaries, directly incurred by the Town’s law enforcement agency in the investigation of violations of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1381 et seq., as amended, and set the administrative charge to be assessed against each convicted person at an amount reasonably calculated to recover all or part of those costs and expenses, but in no event to exceed the average amount of such costs and expenses per case. The calculated amount shall not include costs and expenses for officer testimony given during discovery, at a hearing or at trial. The Town’s chief law enforcement officer shall communicate the result of the administrative charge calculation to the Town’s municipal court.

E. The administrative charge collected by the Town’s municipal court shall be deposited in the Town’s general fund.

F. In addition to any other rights and remedies available to the Town, the Town Attorney is authorized to institute any appropriate civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction for recovery of the administrative charge authorized under this section.

G. The liability imposed under this section is in addition to and not in limitation of any other liability that may be imposed, except that this section shall not apply in any case where the convicted person caused an accident that resulted in an appropriate emergency response, thereby making Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1386 et seq., as amended, applicable. It is the intent of the Mayor and Council that this section supplement the provisions of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1386 et seq., as amended, in cases where that statute is not applicable, and that Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 28-1386 et seq., as amended, control in the event of any actual conflict between it and this section.

H. The administrative charge provided for in this section is hereby declared to be a cost recovery measure, administrative in nature, separate from and in addition to any sentence or probation conditions imposed by the Town’s municipal court in the criminal case. (11-09, Amended, 06/16/2011)