Lawsuit challenges Missouri court fee

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Officials of several local governments in Missouri have filed a lawsuit over a court fee that goes into a retirement fund for sheriffs.

Missouri lawmakers created the retirement fund and the $3 surcharge in 1983. The lawsuit states that municipal courts were told this summer that they, too, would have to begin levying the surcharge.

The lawsuit asserts that applying the surcharge to municipal courts violates portions of the Missouri Constitution on access to courts and unfunded mandates.

The local government officials filed their lawsuit this week in Cole County. Circuit Judge Jon Beetem has not scheduled a hearing.