AGO 2006-024.

• Case Date: June 05, 2006
• Court: Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Opinions 2006. AGO 2006-024. June 5, 2006OPINION NO. 2006-024The Honorable David L. Landefeld Fairfield County Prosecuting Attorney 201 South Broad Street, Fourth Floor Lancaster, Ohio 43130 SYLLABUS: 2006_024

Pursuant to R.C. 321.44(A)(2), a court of common pleas may use moneys in the county probation services fund to pay the compensation of county probation officers.

Opinions Section 30 E. Broad St., 15th Floor Columbus, OH 43215-3400 Telephone: (614) 752-6417 Facsimile: (614) 466-0013 www.ag.state.oh.us The Honorable David L. Landefeld Fairfield County Prosecuting Attorney 201 South Broad Street, Fourth Floor Lancaster, Ohio 43130 Dear Prosecutor Landefeld: You have requested an opinion whether R.C. 321.44(A)(2) authorizes a court of common pleas to use moneys in the county probation services fund to pay the compensation(fn1) of county probation officers.(fn2) Based on the following, a court of common pleas may use moneys in the county probation services fund in this manner. R.C. 2951.021(A)(1) authorizes a court of common pleas to require a person during a period of community control to pay a monthly supervision fee to the probation agency that has control and supervision over the person or to the clerk of the court for which the probation agency is established:

If a court places a misdemeanor offender under a community control sanction(fn3) under [R.C. 2929.26, R.C. 2929.27, or R.C. 2929.28] or places a felony offender under a community control sanction under [R.C. 2929.16, R.C. 2929.17, or R.C. 2929.18] and if the court places the offender under the control and supervision of a probation agency, the court may require the offender, as a condition of community control, to pay a monthly supervision fee of not more than fifty dollars for supervision services. If the court requires an offender to pay a monthly supervision fee and the offender will be under the control of a county department of probation, a multicounty department of probation, or a municipal court department of probation established under [R.C. 1901.33], the court shall specify whether the offender is to pay the fee to the probation agency that will have control over the offender or to the clerk of the court for which the supervision agency is established. If the court requires an offender to pay a monthly probation fee and the offender will be under the control of the adult parole authority, the court shall specify that the offender is to pay the fee to the clerk of the court of common pleas. (Footnote added.)

See generally R.C. 2949.111 (providing for the assignment of moneys paid by a person convicted of, or pleading guilty to, a misdemeanor toward the satisfaction of any supervision fee that a court pursuant to R.C. 2951.021 requires the person to pay for supervision services while under a community control sanction). Supervision fees collected under R.C. 2951.021 by a county probation department, multicounty probation department, municipal court probation department in a county-operated municipal court, or the clerk of the court of common pleas are deposited into a county probation services fund established in the county treasury of that county pursuant to R.C. 321.44(A)(1).(fn4) R.C. 2951.021(C). R.C. 321.44(A)(1), in turn, provides, that, if the county has...