Mayor David Briley said he is willing to lower some of Nashville's court fines and fees this year after a review from local criminal justice leaders and national groups.

The work comes as cities across the country are reconsidering court costs that can trap poor people under a growing mountain of fines that keeps them in the criminal justice system.

"This is part of how you become more equitable,” Briley said during an interview discussing the ongoing review in Nashville. “We should not be in a position where we’re passively keeping people from prospering and being successful by how we run our criminal justice fines and fees system.”

Financial management firm PFM's Center for Justice & Safety Finance and the National League of Cities are assisting with the review. The city secured free technical assistance from the groups.

The Center for Justice & Safety Finance is expected to suggest possible fee and fine cuts this fall, along with recommendations about how the city can replace any revenue it loses as a result.

Briley will chair a committee of local leaders that will evaluate the recommendations and chart a path forward. The 13-member committee includes elected officials like the district attorney and public defender, department heads like the chief of police, and other stakeholders.

Briley did not name specific fees or fines he would trim or eliminate — or which ones he might leave in place — saying he would wait to see recommendations. But Briley said he was prepared to immediately pursue cuts with city ordinances once the work was done.

The mayor also planned to push for any legislation that would be needed to shrink fees and fines doled out by the state. He said Gov. Bill Lee's support for other criminal justice reforms suggested it was a good time to do the work.

“I expect we’d have a receptive audience at the state legislature,” he said.

Briley said it wouldn't be a “significant challenge” to build support for the cuts. He said court fines and fees make up a "tiny fraction" of the city's budget, and that the Center for Justice & Safety Finance would help identify “additional revenue sources that can supplant what we might lose.”

Ronal Serpas, a former Nashville police chief, is working with the Center for Justice & Safety Finance as senior advisor. He said his group wouldn't eliminate fines or fees altogether, but they would focus on costs that disproportionately stymied poor people.

“Nobody is saying that you should just stop having fines for driving vehicles too fast," Serpas said. “Do it in a way that doesn’t give unequal treatment.”

Serpas said he expected some push back from some city leaders as the work continued, but he pointed out the end result would eliminate busy work for law enforcement and keep more people out of the criminal justice system.

The center decided to help Nashville in part because the city leadership was united in favoring reform.

“This is one of the areas where I think they want to be really leaning forward," Serpas said. "We want to be leaning forward with them.”

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.