The town of San Tan Valley has forged an agreement with Florence to provide municipal court services for ordinance violations.
The San Tan Valley Town Council unanimously approved the intergovernmental agreement during its Sept. 16 meeting. The agreement was on the council’s consent agenda in which all items are handled through one motion and vote.
The agreement is in lieu of San Tan Valley establishing and maintaining its own separate municipal court.
“This (agreement) is specifically for the town of Florence Municipal Court to handle our code-related cases,” San Tan Valley Town Manager Brent Billingsley told the council. “When I say code-related cases, that’s building codes, zoning codes, city code. So, that’s not traffic stops or traffic tickets or traffic accidents or felonies or misdemeanors. Thankfully, Florence worked with us over the last few months to negotiate this agreement, so we can utilize their court system, their judge, to hear our cases.”
Services Florence will provide include:
Accepting and processing San Tan Valley ordinance citations, complaints and filings
Providing court clerk services
Conducting hearings, trials and other judicial proceedings
Accepting pleas, admissions, denials and other filings
Collecting and accounting for fines, fees, sanctions, surcharges, assessments and other amounts ordered by the court
San Tan Valley will pay Florence a base administrative fee of $500 per month, prorated to $4,500 for fiscal year 2027, and $6,000 annually for fiscal years 2028-31. San Tan Valley will also pay $49 per accepted case for intake and filing administration, as well as $65 per accepted case for judicial officer time, applicable actual costs for non-routine services and other reimbursable expenses.
“Local fines, fees, sanctions and other local revenues collected in (cases) will be retained by Florence as partial compensation and credited against amounts otherwise due, but San Tan Valley remains responsible for the charges regardless of case outcomes or collections,” a staff report stated.
The agreement will run from Oct. 1 through June 30, 2031. Either town can terminate the agreement with a 120-day written notice.
Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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