The service is offered in a few cities in the state, and city officials said they hope people will take advantage of the new service. "This started as a directive from city managers to move closer to e-government," said Hilda Phariss, municipal court administrator for Bryan. Phariss said the convenience of handling a ticket online should ease the congestion at the court office and save time for the people who receive tickets.
"Many people who are issued tickets are from out of town, so this will be extremely beneficial for those people," Phariss said.
Bryan is one of only five cities in the state to implement this service.
Seventeen months ago, the city of Irving began to offer the online ticket payment plan.
Bill Maitland, court operations manager for Irving, said the service has been well-received, although it has not increased revenue for the city.
"The city of Irving writes about 100,000 tickets per year and about 1,800 of those tickets were handled over the Internet," Maitland said.
Phariss said she cannot be sure that the new service will bring in revenue for Bryan.
She said several cities have already established this system with success.
"Other cities have the pay over the phone service where people can use their credit card, but there is a surcharge involved with that. With our service there is no surcharge," Phariss said.
Phariss said the Bryan e-ticket payment will not be offered to juveniles or offenses involving alcohol or tobacco.
Sgt. Benson Kilgore said the traffic division of the Bryan Police Department is looking to expand by approximately four officers, and the amount of citations will increase when more officers are working traffic.
In 2003, the city of Bryan issued 16,147 citations that brought in $2,016,442. The municipal court operates on a budget of approximately $934,369 per fiscal year, Phariss said.
Julie Kuder, College Station court administrator, expects College Station to follow suit.
"We expect our Web site to be able to take ticket payments in three to six months," Kuder said.
Quelle: The Battalion, 07.04.2004
