Trooper Association leader says ticket surcharge is not the answer

The president of the Iowa State Troopers Association is speaking out on a proposal to put a five-dollar surcharge on tickets written by county deputies. The surcharge was proposed to help out counties which say they’re spending more time writing tickets because there are fewer state troopers on the roadways due to budget cuts. When the deputies write tickets, all the money goes to the state, which doesn’t help counties with their tight budgets. Trooper association president Gerri McCurdy of Fort Dodge says they understand the problem. He says they’re not opposed to the surcharge or the legislation, he says it just doesn’t do anything to meet the needs of the state patrol. McCurdy says he’d rather see deputies get the same split of the fine money as cities do — which is 10 percent. McCurdy says the ultimate solution is to focus on restoring the cut troopers, so the enforcement duties don’t have to be passed down to the counties. He says they know that the sheriffs and deputies are having to pick up more of the workload because there are fewer troopers on the road. He says they want to keep the message alive that restoring more troopers would help them out by eliminating the problem. The bill’s made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee but its future is uncertain as legislative leaders do not list the bill as a priority.