Lawrence City Commission approves increased fines for some traffic tickets

Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve an increase to fines that people will pay for some traffic tickets in municipal court.

The tweak to city ordinances increases the minimum fine for traffic offenses to $100 from $80. An exception is for speeding tickets for drivers going 1 to 9 mph over the speed limit in regular zones, which will remain at $50. Within construction or school zones, the fine will be $100 at those speeds.

Speeding tickets for drivers going 10 or more mph over the speed limit will increase between about 12% and 25%, with fines ranging from $90 for going 10 mph over to $290 for going 30 mph over the speed limit.

“The Municipal Court offers defendants the option of satisfying their fines through community service which is paid at $10 per hour of service,” according to the agenda item.

The ordinance tweak does not include any changes to parking fines or court costs.

It’s expected to bring the city an approximate $40,800 in revenue and was included in the municipal court’s budget for 2026, according to the agenda.

Vicki Stanwix, court administrator, called it “a modest increase after 12 years of having no increase.”

She told commissioners the court saw a 96% collection rate on traffic infractions prior to being sent to a collection agency, and 92% so far in 2025.

“This reflects the community’s willingness to comply in the court’s supportive approach,” Stanwix said. “Modest fine adjustments are not expected to change that trend, but will help keep fines meaningful enough to encourage timely payment and reinforce accountability.”

She said on average, 43 people per month complete nearly 400 hours of community service work to pay off their fines. She said people can also ask the court for a reduction of fines because of financial hardship.

The increase had been on the commission’s consent agenda, a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved in one motion unless a commissioner asks to remove an item for discussion. Vice Mayor Brad Finkeldei asked to pull the fee increases off the consent agenda.

Lawrence resident Chris Flowers told the commission he didn’t think it was equitable to increase the fines because, for instance, a $50 fine to someone making $10 per hour is going to take five times as long to make enough to pay the ticket than it would for someone making $50 per hour.

Other than hearing from Stanwix and listening to public comment, commissioners did not discuss the changes much.

“We’re still on the low end compared to some of our neighboring communities, which I’m fine with,” Finkeldei said. “But I also think we need to keep the fines going. As Samuel (Carter, public commenter) said, and others, it’s important to make sure you’re disciplining speeding and trying to keep the traffic safe.”

Mayor Mike Dever, Finkeldei and Commissioners Lisa Larsen, Bart Littlejohn and Amber Sellers voted 5-0 to approve the increases. See the changes in the complete agenda item at this link. The change will go into effect Jan. 1.

Search firm for city manager

Commissioners also asked city staff members to seek out proposals for consulting services to conduct a search for the next city manager as Craig Owens announced last week that he plans to resign in May.

They agreed they’d like to see that on the agenda for their Tuesday, Dec. 2 meeting so they can start the process as soon as incoming commissioners Mike Courtney and Kristine Polian, who won the Nov. 7 election, take office. Littlejohn lost his bid for reelection to the two newcomers, and Larsen did not run again.

Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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