Annual amnesty program to begin in February

Published 9:45 am Thursday, January 26, 2017

Vicksburg residents who owe past due fines for traffic or other misdemeanor offenses, will have the chance to pay them off and avoid spending time in jail.

The city’s annual amnesty period, which allows people to pay off their fines in full, runs from Feb. 1 through April 10. All the money collected during the period goes into the city’s general fund.

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“This gives people who owe past due fines the opportunity to pay them off and avoid the embarrassment of having the police come and serve a warrant on them,” Municipal Judge Toni Terrett said. “People can come in, pay the fine in full, and the warrant will be removed.”

The amnesty period usually runs from Feb. 1 through April 1, but Terrett said she extended the deadline to give people more time to pay off their fines.

In 2015, the most recent year for statistics, the amnesty period netted the city $64,412.85 in back fines, about $2,656 more than collected in 2014, when the Vicksburg Municipal Court collected $61,756.41 in back fines from people who took advantage of the amnesty period.

The amount collected in 2014 was about $7,307 more than the $54,449.08 in delinquent fines and fees collected in 2013, and about $5,133 more than collected in 2012.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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