Courts start taking fines for some tickets online

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By LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star

The line outside the Lancaster County Court Office soon could get  a little shorter.

That’s because the county is one of 18 in Nebraska taking part of a pilot project to collect ePayments for certain tickets.

Someone ticketed for speeding or failing to yield, careless driving or open alcohol container could go to the Nebraska Judicial Branch’s Web site to pay it, without stepping foot in the courthouse.

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“Electronic payments are standard operating procedure in the private sector. Electronic payments are also becoming standard operating procedure in state government,” Chief Justice Mike Heavican said.

The effective use of technology is a priority for the judicial branch, he said.

To State Court Administrator Janice Walker, the concept is simple.

“The easier you can make it to pay the more likely they are to pay,”  she said.

Walker said the ePayment option was introduced on www.supremecourt.ne.gov Dec. 3.

Already, without any publicity or any promotion, some have started to pay that way.

For now, it’s a pilot project, involving Boyd, Cass, Colfax, Cuming, Dawson, Hamilton, Holt, Keith, Knox, Lancaster, Merrick, Platte, Saunders, Seward, Stanton, Thayer, Thurston and Washington counties.

“Not only will the ePayment system be more convenient for motorists, but it will also help streamline the administrative process for the court system,” Walker said.

When a fine is paid online, court clerks don’t need to re-enter the payment into the system. The computer automatically records the payment the next business day.

Then the user can print a confirmation, “the same as ordering from a catalog,” she said.

According to the Web site, someone who wants to pay a waiverable citation issued in Lancaster County, or one of the other 17 counties, needs the ticket for starters.

If the “waiver allowed” box at the bottom is marked, the person can choose to waive their rights, plead guilty and pay the fine and costs without ever going to court.

It cannot be used to pay parking tickets.

Those who do chose to pay online give up several rights, including the right to trial before a judge, or a jury in certain cases; the right to confront witnesses against them; and the right to testify on their own behalf.

The person has to declare they are the person named on the citation. Then fill in information about the offense, including the citation number and date.

If they’ve already been to court on the ticket, they can’t do ePayment. And partial payments aren’t accepted.

There’s also a $2.25 processing fee per ticket.

Walker said they hope to open it up to the rest of Nebraska’s 93 counties early next year.

Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.