News Item
Minnesota completes transition to centralized Court Payment Center

Posted: Wednesday, February 3, 2016

/mncourtsgov/media/CIO-Stock-Photos/CallCenterOperator.jpg?ext=.jpg

Center began processing Hennepin County citations January 25
 
The Minnesota Judicial Branch has completed a multi-year project to centralize the processing of citations and traffic tickets, from case initiation through case disposition, for all 87 counties in Minnesota. With the completion of this project, the processing of all of Minnesota’s “payable citations” paid online, by mail, or over the phone is now being handled by staff at the Minnesota Court Payment Center (CPC). Additionally, questions about citations are handled by call center clerks in the CPC. Payable citations include traffic and parking tickets, as well as other citations that do not require a court appearance.
 
Minnesota’s CPC was established in late-2009 as a one-stop resource for members of the public from across the state to pay fines online, by phone, or through the mail, and to speak with a clerk about their citations. The CPC’s goal was also to alleviate the vast majority of citation processing work done in each of the state’s district courts.
 
Since June 2011, the CPC has managed citation processing and payments for district courts in 85 of the state’s 87 counties, with the two exceptions being the state’s largest district courts in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. An evaluation completed in 2013 showed the CPC had reduced the payables case processing workload in those 85 counties, and that centralization had helped reduce the statewide number of Judicial Branch staff working on payables processing.
 
Transitioning Hennepin and Ramsey county district courts to the Court Payment Center presented a higher level of complexity than with the state’s other district courts. Annually, Hennepin and Ramsey county district courts process more citations than the state’s other district courts combined (primarily due to the high number of parking citations), and rely on specialized hearing officers to help process the high number of citations.
 
After significant planning and preparation, the Minnesota Judicial Branch transferred Ramsey County citations processing to the CPC in July 2015, and Hennepin County citations on January 25, 2016. Hennepin and Ramsey county district courts continue to offer court users the opportunity to meet with hearing officers in locations throughout the two counties. Hearing officers are also available at Washington County District Court.
 
The CPC accepts payments 24 hours a day online at www.mncourts.gov/fines, and over the phone toll-free at 1-800-657-3611 or (651) 281-3219. CPC staff is also available to answer questions about citations at those same phone numbers between 8 a.m. and 4:15 a.m., Monday through Friday. Payments can also be mailed to the CPC at P.O. Box 898, Willmar, MN 56201.
 
“The Court Payment Center has made it faster and easier for the public to complete their business with the court, and created significant new efficiencies throughout Minnesota’s court system,” said State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba. “This project is another example of how the Minnesota Judicial Branch is leveraging new technologies to improve our service to the public.”
 
Information about payable citations filed in the original 85 counties has been available in the Judicial Branch’s public online case management system in recent years. With this transition, the payable citations in Hennepin and Ramsey counties are now also available in the system.