(A) The City Council, with the consent of the City Magistrate, establishes a court collection service fee whereby the Municipal Court, collection agency(s)and/or attorney(s) may assess the fee against persons, probationers, defendants, businesses or corporations that have defaulted (minimum of 60 days’ delinquent) on monetary obligations owed to or payable through the court. The court collection service fee may also be collected by a collection agency(s) and/or attorney(s). The fee may be added to costs assessed after the date of this Code revision but may also be utilized for fees incurred prior to the revision, but the fees shall be deducted from amounts due.

(B) With the consent of the Magistrate, there is hereby established a court collection service fee, which shall be paid exclusively by persons, probationers, defendants, businesses or corporations with monetary obligations that are in default (minimum of 60 days’ delinquent) to the Municipal Court and the obligations are collected by a collection agency and/or attorney.

(C) With the consent of the Magistrate, the Municipal Court is authorized to engage the services of collection agency(s) or attorney(s) in accordance with any applicable statutes, regulations and procedures governing the procurement of the services.

(D) With the consent of the Magistrate, the Municipal Court is authorized to impose a court collection service fee to be charged to each person, defendant, probationer, business or corporation defaulting on a monetary obligation owed the court or a department of the court. The court collection service fee shall be an amount equal to fees and charges assessed by a collection agency that is licensed pursuant to A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 9, Article 2, or by a duly licensed attorney who is engaged by the court or collection agency to collect the payment.

(E) All persons, defendants, probationers, businesses or corporations that owe a monetary obligation to the Municipal Court or any departments of the court shall be assessed a court collection service fee of up to 35% of the unpaid balance on any financial obligation(s) in default. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 22-404, the fee established by this section is to be exclusively attributable to and defray or cover the expense of the collection services for which the fee is assessed. The court collection service fee shall not exceed the actual cost of collection services rendered.

(F) If the person, business or corporation pays all or part of a financial obligation over time, the collection service fee shall be collected as a percentage of each payment. (Ord. 168 § 2, passed 9-13-2000. Code 1982 Art. 5-4. Code 2012 § 34.06.)