Monroeville

A judge's gavel is seen in the foreground of this photograph made inside the Old Courthouse Museum in Monroeville, Ala. The courtroom has been restored to its 1930s appearance. (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com)

(Mike Brantley)

Get pulled over for speeding in Cleburne County and you could face a whopping fine of $20.

Doesn't seem like much, does it? Heck, I've lost more money than that doing laundry.

But then the fees kick in. Last year, the Anniston Star broke them down after Cleburne County saw a steep drop in its revenue.

You'll have to pay court costs, even if you don't spend a minute in court. That's a given.

Next you'll also have to fill the coffers of the state comptroller, the district attorney, the Peace Officers Annuity Fund, the Citizen's Trust Fund, the Drug Task Force (no matter if you had any drugs in your car), and the county commission, just to name a few.

Once everyone gets their cut, your $20 speeding fine has grown to $272.

So why was Cleburne County's revenue declining? Construction on Interstate 20 blocked a weigh station and also took away an on-ramp state troopers had used as a favorite hunting spot for speedy drivers.

No new taxes (but fees are fine)

In Alabama, we're allergic to taxes. We don't just dislike them. We despise them. "No new taxes" is hard-coded into our DNA.

So government has found other ways to get our money, especially through the courts.

In Chambers County, drug offenders pay into the fire and rescue fund.

In Madison County, since 2000 fees for serving court papers have paid for county employees to get a raise.

In Lawrence County, court costs help fund the county historical commission, so ostensibly future generations can learn about a time when Alabama adequately funded its court system.

You see, in Alabama, we've been doing a good job of using court revenue for things that don't have much if anything to do with courts, but we've been doing a pretty terrible job actually funding those same courts.

When Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and I agree on something, that should be evidence enough that something is horribly wrong. (Julie Bennett/ jbennett@al.com)

Last year, the Alabama Bar Association commissioned the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama to study how the state funds its court system.

The short answer: Badly.

Killing the golden goose

Here's what PARCA found. The courts contribute revenue from court costs to the Alabama General Fund, and when you back that money out, you can see what the state actually pays to support the court system.

In 2010, that number was close to $75 million

By 2013, that number had dropped to just $3 million.

Now the Alabama Legislature is looking at cutting the courts further.

Those cuts would mean as many as 530 court employees could lose their jobs in a system that is already understaffed by 400 positions, Administrative Director of Courts Rich Hobson told lawmakers in a letter this week.

Such cuts, Hobson said, would make it impossible for the courts to function.

More money in, less money out

But here's the important thing: If the state goes through with the proposed cuts -- as $13.9 million - that means the courts would actually be putting more money into the General Fund than they take out of it.

Cities such as Harpersville and Childersburg have received unwanted national attention, not to mention lawsuits, after turning their municipal courts into cash cows and the jails into debtors' prisons for indigent defendants who couldn't pay.

The State of Alabama could be one budget cycle away from getting into that same business.

Maybe you don't think the state should pay more into the social safety net programs like Medicaid.

Maybe you think prisoners should rot while stacked like old cordwood in their cells.

That's fine.

But there are certain basic functions most of us should be able to agree need funding.

One of those things is the court system - not just a function of government, but a whole branch of it.

Heck, even Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and I agree on that.

This week, Moore took to the airwaves on the Matt Murphy Show to vent his exasperation. The courts get just 1.6 percent of state funds, he said.

"We can't cut anymore," he said. "We just can't do it."

And they shouldn't have to.

Moore and I rarely agree. In fact, I don't remember it happening before.

If nothing else, that alone should tell you just how bad things have gotten.