NJ motor vehicle surcharges paid off with community service

New Jersey drivers dealing with a license suspension often find themselves in a catch 22. They can’t pay off their Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) surcharges because they can’t drive to work, and they can’t drive to work because they don’t have a license because they can’t pay off their surcharges.

Some lawmakers said there should be a community service option for a narrow category of Garden State residents in this predicament.

“We want to give them the opportunity not to go into debt (and) to pay their way back into society by doing community service to pay their surcharge,” said Assemblyman Charles Mainor (D-Jersey City). “It’s just another alternative rather than having someone owing and creating more fines and going into debt.”

Legislation sponsored by Mainor and Assembly members Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson) and Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) would create a “Motor Vehicle Surcharge Community Service Program.” The bill was approved Monday by the Assembly and Senate committees.

If it became law it would not apply to everyone.

“You have to be unemployed first and foremost to be eligible for this program and you have to be in some type of schooling and/or in some type of training where you need a vehicle to get back and forth so, that narrows it down,” Mainor said.

Even with the limited eligibility, a Republican member of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee voted against the measure.

“I think it’s too broad of a bill,” said Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Clinton). “It doesn’t state what the underlying traffic violations were that created the surcharges. I thought that the bill would be better and I would’ve voted for it if the judge decided.”

Not all surcharges are created equal, Peterson pointed out. He said allowing the court to decide who should be eligible for the community service option made more sense because judges would have the driver’s history at their fingertips.

“For someone with a limited income, motor vehicle surcharges can snowball into a serious financial burden that can eventually lead to license suspension,” Sumter said in a press release statement.  “This solution is a win-win because it will enable drivers with less serious infractions to climb out of the surcharge hole without paralyzing their finances while contributing to their surrounding community.”