Pennsylvania Courts collected more than $464.5 million in fees, fines, costs and restitution in 2015, including a record $92 million paid online through PAePay.
PAePay allows people to conveniently make payments via the Internet with a debit or credit card. Online payments increased by 20 percent this year, with a 21 percent increase in the number of transactions or users.
Most of the money collected by the courts is sent to the state, local governments and victims of crime; a small portion of the money is sent to various entities such as airports, parking authorities and libraries.
The judiciary’s case management computer systems have helped the courts improve collections by:
— Generating customized court payment delinquency letters;
— Sharing information with PennDOT for suspension of the driver’s licenses of defendants failing to pay court costs related to traffic violations; and
— Providing defendant case financial data to outside collection agencies, which are currently used by 42 counties.
The state received $226 million of the total $464.5 million collected by the courts. Counties received $154.3 million and municipalities $46.5 million to support local government programs. Crime victims received a total of $33.9 million in restitution, and various entities received $3.8 million.
The money distributed to support government programs and crime victims came from fees, fines, costs and restitution collected by 517 magisterial district courts and the criminal divisions of the 67 Common Pleas Courts and the Philadelphia Municipal Court.
