Issue:

How should Miami-Dade County classify revenues derived from fines?

Reference:

GASB 37 ¶ 12 (amending GASB 34) states "For Identifying to which program a revenue pertains, the determining factor for charges for services is which function generates the revenue. For grants and contributions, the determining factor is the function to which the revenues are restricted. Footnote e further clarifies the issue: "In some instances it may be difficult or impractical to identify a specific function that generates a program revenue. For example, in many jurisdictions fines could be attributed to either a public safety or judicial function. If the source of a program revenue is not clear, governments should adopt a classification policy for assigning those revenues and apply it consistently."

Evaluation:

The County Courts are responsible to collect fines. The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and police departments from other municipalities issue fines for traffic infractions. For the fines issued by the MDPD, the County allocates one-third of the fees collected to the County Courts. The remaining two-thirds is allocated to the General Fund. For fines collected on behalf of other municipalities, the County allocates one-third of the fines collected to the County Courts; the remaining two-thirds is distributed to the respective municipalities by whom the fines were issued.

In addition to the parking and traffic fines, various County departments issue code enforcement fines. These departments are Building, Building Code Compliance, Team Metro, Consumer Protection, DERM, Solid Waste, Cable TV and Public Works. The County allocates the associated fine revenue to these departments with the court retaining an amount as a fee for collecting the fines.

Position:

For fines issued by the MDPD, the County will recognize two-thirds as Protection of People revenue and the remaining one-third as General Government revenue. For fines issued by other municipalities, the County will recognize one-third as General Government revenue and the remaining will be returned to the respective municipality.

For fines related to code enforcement, the County will continue to use the current allocation method.