COUNTY IMPOSES FEE FOR WOMEN'S SHELTER

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission Thursday approved a new court fee to aid a Cape Girardeau domestic-violence shelter.

The three commissioners voted to impose a $2 fee on all future civil cases filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court, meeting a year-end deadline set by a new state law. The fee will be charged the plaintiffs in civil cases.

The new law, which went into effect Aug. 28, replaces previous provisions that limited the collection of domestic-violence fees to divorce cases.

The change from fees on divorce cases to all civil filings could quadruple funding available to Missouri's domestic-violence shelters, supporters say.

The new law corrects an error in 1999 legislation that lowered the surcharge on divorce cases from $10 to $2 but didn't apply the fee to all civil cases as intended, said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Scott Lipke. Under the new law, counties can only impose the new fee if they do so by the end of the year, Lipke said.

Lipke said the change should generate more revenue. The money is distributed by the county's Domestic Violence Authority Board to the Safe House for Women in Cape Girardeau.

In 1998, the latest figures immediately available, there were 520 divorce cases filed in Cape Girardeau County. At $10 a case, that generated $5,200 for the Safe House for Women.

A $2 fee on all civil cases would generate about $7,000 based on the current caseload of 3,490 civil cases filed so far this year.

The Safe House for Women, as with other domestic shelters in the state, also receives money from a $5 fee levied as part of the marriage license charge.

The divorce and marriage license fees together have generated about $8,000 to $9,000 a year for the shelter, estimated Ruth Ann Dickerson, chairman of the domestic-violence board.

Cheryl Robb-Welch, executive director of the Safe House, welcomed the county commission's action. Without it, the shelter would have seen a drop in funding, she said.

"There is no going back to fixing it," she said. The commission had to act by year's end or the court case fee would have been lost, she said.

Robb-Welch said the money generated by the new fee could be used for an education program for high school youths.