The state wants its share of money collected from illegal town tickets used as plea bargains for minor traffic offenses. Bluffton began using the tickets in 1998, six years after the state prohibited them.
An accounting firm hired to audit the past three years of fines -- the maximum allowed by law -- is swamped with work and hasn't finalized its findings, Gilbert said. It was supposed to be finished by October.
By law, all traffic tickets must be written on the state's paperwork, and a portion of the money must be sent to the state Department of Public Safety and a victim's assistance fund. Bluffton officials have said the money stayed in-house.
Using the town's audit of fiscal year 2005 as justification -- because municipal court fines couldn't be reconciled that year -- state Treasurer Grady Patterson Jr. wrote a letter to Gilbert requesting the audit.
Bluffton discontinued the use of zero-point town tickets for traffic violations in August after The Island Packet questioned their legality.
