Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 5/17/16. Hamilton County Mayor Jim CoppingerHamilton County criminals soon could help pay for nonprofit victim services through a proposed $45 court-imposed fee.
The County Commission is set to vote Wednesday to designate the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults and the Children's Advocacy Center of Hamilton County as the recipients of the "victims' assistance assessment."
"We believe this could actually be a game-changer for our programs," Partnership CEO Pam Ladd told county commissioners in a recent meeting.
The Partnership offers a rape crisis center, a domestic violence shelter and supervised visitation between noncustodial parents and children involved in domestic abuse situations. The Children's Advocacy Center provides forensic interviews, medical examinations and therapy.
"They do fill a void that we are not able to fund," Mayor Jim Coppinger said. Neither agency receives appropriations from Hamilton County.
The state law enabling county legislative bodies to enact the fee requires that $3 of each assessment go to court clerks to offset associated administrative costs. The two organizations will split the remaining $42 evenly.
Coppinger said the county will not pitch in to make up the difference if the full assistance assessment cannot be collected from an offender. The agencies will divide whatever the court clerk collects of their portion.
If a judge so decrees, the court clerk may levy the fee against people who plead or are found guilty of a crime.
Neither recipient agency has preliminary revenue projections, Ladd said, because of unknown factors such as a criminal's willingness and ability to pay and whether judges actually assess the fee.
"There's a lot of variables that keep us from being able to have a firm number, but anything that we would receive is way beyond the zero we're getting now," Ladd said. "We'll be tracking it."
Ladd assured commissioners the agencies would be good stewards of the money and be very accountable to the body.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @pleach_tfp.