Ulster - No-Plea Policy to be Abolished When Spitzer Becomes Governor

Ulster - Because of the new State Police policy of no-plea bargaining on vehicle and traffic tickets, the Town of Ulster could stand to lose some $200,000 next year. Towns collect local fine revenue in plea cases, but if they go to trial, as is the case now, the state gets all the money.

In order to recoup some of it, the town has assigned the town attorney and a special town attorney to handle the majority of the V&T tickets issued by the State Police.
Supervisor Nick Woerner said with 11 miles of the Thruway going through the Town of Ulster, it used to collect a sizeable amount of ticket fines. “It appears that this will be an additional cost to the town of approximately $20,000 a year; however, we anticipate with the election of Eliot Spitzer as New York State’s new governor, this will most likely change on January 1st,” he said.

The Town of Ulster Justice Court handles 9,800 cases per year with 4,800 of them single V&T tickets issued by the State Police.