Judges and law enforcement officials say it’s only a matter of time until there’s a tragedy in a Sullivan County courtroom.
Reports of violence come from courtrooms across the nation and even close to home, including the 2005 shooting deaths of three people in an Atlanta courtroom.
That same year, a Tennessee correctional officer was shot to death during a 2005 escape at the Roane County Courthouse.
Everyone agrees that security needs to be beefed up in Sullivan County, but it isn’t going to be free.
To help pay for a little more peace of mind, the County Commission voted Monday to increase court fees in both civil and criminal cases by $15. State law allows counties to charge each person as much as $25 for courtroom security.
The fee could produce $181,000 per year.
According to some estimates, it will cost $1 million to purchase walk-through metal detectors and other equipment.
Eight courtrooms handle business each day in Sullivan County. The courthouses in Kingsport and Bristol handle General Sessions Court cases. The courts in Blountville handle criminal trials and other proceedings.
Sullivan County judges have petitioned for more security for many years.
State law requires courts to have at least one uniformed guard during session and at least two hand-held metal detectors in each courthouse or courtroom.
That minimum is not enough, said Judge John McLellan.
“This is for your citizens who use the system every day of the week. The time is here,” he said. “Things are getting serious. We want to be proactive and not reactive to something that’s going to happen at the courthouse.”
Some commissioners questioned whether it is fair to increase court fees. The typical first-offense DUI charge costs $380.
Sullivan County Mayor Steve Godsey said commissioners can either add the fee or use county funds.
“If we don’t fund it through the courtrooms, you will find a way to fund it,” he said.
Commissioner Bill Kilgore of Kingsport said many people who never see a courtroom will end up paying the fee.
“It is an increase in taxes on people who don’t even go to court,” he said. “You get taxed when you’re not getting a service out of it.”
Godsey said the fee would not be attached to traffic citations – cases in which people rarely visit a courtroom.
The myriad of fines charged to court users varies based on the charges, said Sandy Tate, a deputy clerk in the Criminal Court office.
A person with a DUI will be charged differently than someone with drug charges, she said.
Tate said the more criminal charges, the higher the bill, but the state ends up with most of the money.
McLellan said it will take at least two years to implement the new security measures because the fee will have to be collected and saved to buy the new equipment and hire personnel.
Godsey said once implemented, annual security costs could be as high as $500,000.
He is not certain when the fee will take effect.
In other business, county employees could see a 3 percent to 6 percent pay raise under a resolution introduced Monday.
Commissioner Wayne McConnell of Kingsport proposed increasing employee pay rates next year to continue a pay plan implemented this year.
The pay plan was created by Organizational Management Group of Knoxville, which set a pay schedule based on employees’ job descriptions and pay rates for similar jobs in other counties.
