City to Lose Municipal Court?

Another casualty of the state imposed budget commission could soon be the operation of the city Municipal Court. Commission chairman Michael O’Keefe wants to dissolve the court and have all traffic offenders appear before the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal (RITT). Currently, local violators of law and city ordinances appear before Judge Michael Farley at city hall in the evening. Under this new proposal, local residents will have to attend daytime court sessions at the Cranston RITT location. Some transactions also take place at the Wakefield Government Center.

Judge Michael Farley told the commission at its’ Thursday session in city hall, that he believed the court should stay as it is in East Providence. The court was previously housed at Breed Hall on the former Providence Country Day grounds, but has been moved to city hall to save money. Farley explained that “the local court brings our city money and also deals with violations concerning housing, zoning, animal control and disorderly conduct as well as traffic matters. We provide a necessary service to the community,” Farley said. But only Mayor Bruce Rogers - a commission member - spoke in favor of keeping the traffic court within East Providence. Farley introduced a financial breakdown to further explain the advantage of keeping a court in the city. “We raise money from fines because of this court,” Farley said. “We did a financial analysis of the first four months of the fiscal year - of actual revenue received,” Farley continued. However, commission chairman O’Keefe interrupted Farley and said, “well we (commission staff) did a full year analysis and you get the same amount from fines by going to the state,” he maintained. “Wherever the court is, the money comes in to East Providence,” said O’Keefe.

As Farley continued to discuss figures, O’Keefe put his hands up and seemed frustrated. “I’m at a point where I want to call in the Auditor General,” said O’Keefe. “My 40 years of experience with accounting is here. I’m getting all kinds of figures every week. Who do I have for analysis, Mother Theresa?” O’Keefe said. “With all due respect to your judicial prowess,” O’keefe told Farley, “I don’t know about your finances. The bottom line here is that the city will save $20,000 in costs if the traffic violators go to the state tribunal. Every $20,000 counts,” said O’Keefe. In the end all parties agreed that $20,000 would be saved by closing the Municipal Court. A final decision was not yet rendered. Judge Farley maintained, however, that city residents benefit greatly from being able to attend a night session of Municipal Court. “Residents don’t have to lose a day of work by going to the state tribunal,” he said. Mayor Rogers also agreed. “Let’s find that $20,000 elsewhere in the courts and keep residents from traveling to Cranston or Wakefield during the work week.”