Chicopee District Court

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor review of Chicopee District Court’s handling of certain court fees and bail money from July 1, 2009 through November 30, 2010.

“The purpose of our audit was to review CDC’s internal controls and compliance with state laws and regulations regarding certain fees and bail funds for the period July 1, 2009 to November 30, 2010.”

The auditor looked at Chicopee District Court because courts collect public money, and this review focused on large criminal-case fee categories and bail, areas where earlier audits had found issues.

“Additionally, we chose to examine bail activity at the district court locations based on issues identified at previous court audits conducted by the Office of the State Auditor, as bail can also be a source of revenue if defendants do not appear in court as required by the terms of their release from jail.”

The report matters because weak procedures can mean the state may miss money it is owed and may not have enough assurance that people on probation are following court requirements.

“Failure to follow the required procedure has resulted in a breakdown in internal controls and inadequate assurance that probationers are complying with the terms of their conditions of probation.”

For an ordinary resident, this audit is about whether a local court is properly tracking and collecting public money, applying required fees fairly, and following rules meant to protect accountability.

“Our recommendations are intended to assist CDC in developing, implementing, or improving its internal controls and overall financial and administrative operations to ensure that CDC’s systems covering certain fees and bail funds operate in an economical, efficient, and effective manner and in compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.”

The court fixed two problems from a prior audit, but this audit found three new control problems involving probation fee waivers, bail forfeiture, and payment priority for victim witness assessments.

“Our prior audit report (No. 2008-1167-3O), which covered financial and management controls over certain operations of the CDC for the period July 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007, disclosed the following deficiencies, which CDC has remedied:”

The court said it would stop letting probation officers decide fee-versus-community-service issues without a court order, forfeited identified defaulted bails, and began treating victim witness assessments as the first payment obligation.

“Rather, probation officers will require every person placed on probation to pay the monthly probation fee unless there is a court order which waives the fee and necessitates the probationer’s performance of monthly community service.”

The findings are significant because the court’s mistakes affected legal requirements for collecting money, documenting hardship, handling bail when defendants miss court, and prioritizing victim witness assessments.

“State law requires CDC to apply any payments made by defendants to the Victim Witness fee assessment before any other criminal assessments are satisfied.”

A probation fee waiver means the court lets a person do community service instead of paying the monthly probation fee, but the audit says that decision must be properly documented by the court.

“A waiver of the probation fee allows the probationer to perform community service instead of paying the required monthly probation fee.”