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COMMENTS TO MANAGEMENT
We noted the following matter involving internal control and its operation that has led or could
lead to noncompliance with laws and regulations, the loss of assets or revenues, or otherwise
compromise the Clerk’s fiscal accountability.
Properly Assess and Bill Court Costs
Repeat: Yes (First issued in 2020 as Properly Bill and Collect Court Fines and Costs)
The Clerk and the Clerk’s staff did not properly assess and bill court costs. In 16 of 56 (29%) cases
tested, we noted the following errors.
• In 11 cases, the Clerk did not charge defendants a total of $3,549 in court costs.
• The Clerk overcharged defendants in three cases a total of $798 in court costs.
• For two cases, the Clerk miscoded in the financial system $191 in attorney fees as
Commonwealth instead of local and did not bill the locality for the fees.
The amounts above are based on actual errors noted within our sample of court transactions,
the impact of which we did not project to all transactions of the court. The Clerk and the Clerk’s staff
should correct the specific cases noted above, seek additional training in the assessment and billing of
court costs, and establish a system of review to minimize the likelihood of billing errors going
undetected. In all cases, the Clerk should assess and bill court costs in accordance with the Code of
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