Resident questions steep loud noise fine Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 1 2009 05:02 AM By Hailey Persinger
Killeen Daily Herald

When Troy Smith received a ticket from the City of Killeen for his wife's violation of the city's loud noise ordinance, he started his research.

According to the ordinance approved by city council members in September, the minimum fine for first-time disrupters of "the comfortable enjoyment of life, property, recreation and conduct of business" is $100. Second-time violators will pay a minimum of $250 and both first- and second-time violators could pay as much as $2,000.

Smith said his grievance doesn't lie with the ticket itself, but rather, with the contrast between the ordinance's $100 minimum fine and the $569 the Killeen Municipal Court has asked him to pay.

"My wife had her stereo on. I'm not going to deny that," he said. "But a $569 ticket? The means doesn't justify the ends."

While the ordinance's minimum is $100, Jerris Mapes, assistant city attorney and police legal adviser, said those who produce excess noise to the disturbance of others should expect at least a $569 ticket.

"That's the way the ordinance was written but because we do have a no-tolerance policy on the loud noise, the court set the low cost at $500," she said.

Barbara Weaver, the most recent municipal court judge, set the fine before she left office in June. Though the court now operates under an interim judge while the city council sifts through applications for Weaver's replacement, none of the fine or fees have been changed. Fines are set and changed at the discretion of the judge, and money from those fines go into the city's general fund balance.

Recipients of excess noise citations can contest the fine by allowing a jury to decide their innocence or guilt. Jury members can lower the $500 fine as well, but they can decide to raise it if they consider the violation worthy of a heftier cost. A plea agreement can also lower the cost of the fine.

While violators have those options, Holli Clements, municipal prosecutor, said that people like Smith, who plan to fight their fines, could be at risk for an even greater cost if a jury's members are passionate about getting rid of loud noise. The $500 charge was instated in response to such feelings.

"Because of the number of complaints, (the judge) wanted to adequately address pretty much a public outcry about noise," she said. "Admittedly, $500 is pretty steep, but it's supposed to be a deterrent."

Clements said that before the court set the current minimum, juries' assessments of noise violation penalties averaged about $500.

The risk of a jury assessing even more in fees is a risk Smith said he's willing to take and plans to fight his wife's fine until he feels that the cost of the ticket adequately reflects the violation.

"I hate to say it, but we may have to go that far," he said. "To me it's not even the money. It's the principle of it all … I understand you break the law, you pay the fine, you do the penalty. But I want the penalty to match the crime."

Contact Hailey Persinger at haileyp@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7568.