WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — What started as consideration for a recently proposed reduction in the county’s penalties for possession of certain amounts of marijuana morphed into a bigger-picture look at the fine and forfeiture structure.
The Marathon County Criminal Justice Collaborating Council is proposing a deep dive into how those penalties are assessed and what impact they may have on the budget while also assessing how various violations rank within county ordinance, because at a certain point a forfeiture may not be worth it based on where the money goes.
County Board Chairman and CJCC member Kurt Gibbs says not all the money from those penalties stays with the county. “As I’m understanding it, some of those dollars goes to the state automatically because of state-mandated forfeitures and fines for court costs, CCAP, and other assessments.” said Gibbs.
One example presented on Thursday of a $50 forfeiture showed the county making just eight cents after those costs were distributed. Meaning that the county court system lost money on the implementation of the penalty, passing the operational costs on to taxpayers.
Gibbs feels at this time the issue has been split into two, with the discussion of whether first-time fines for possession of 25 grams or less or pot seemingly put off to the side until everyone has a grasp of how those penalties are distributed. “We need to understand how those apply to each potential county ordinance violation. [Then we] can understand what the actual impact is to budgets, and the ability to impose sanctions.”
RELATED: Joint Committee Sends Marijuana Fine Proposal to Marathon County CJCC
The proposal was first presented to a joint committee of Marathon County’s Health and Human Services Committee and Public Safety Committee in early January. Supervisor Jeff Johnson, who worked with the county’s corporation counsel on the issue, said it’s something that he has heard residents calling for. He presented public comment during Monday’s meeting, saying he doesn’t think someone who may smoke some marijuana after work in their own home should be criminalized because the act doesn’t put anyone else in harm’s way.
Three other residents did speak out against the measure during public comment, calling pot a dangerous gateway drug.
Members of the Council will meet again in March to take another look at where the money goes while also looking at statistics regarding drug possession charges county-wide. There is currently no timeline for when a proposal, if any, could go back to a county committee for discussion and consideration.
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