West Virginia Code 8-11-1 – Ordinances to make municipal powers effective; penalties imposed under judgment of mayor or police court or municipal judge; right to injunctive relief; right to maintain action to collect fines; additional assessment of costs
(a) To carry into effect the powers and authority conferred upon any municipality or its governing body by the provisions of this chapter, or any past or future act of the Legislature of this state, the governing body has plenary power and authority to:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 8-11-1
- City: is a word of art and shall mean, include, and be limited to any Class I, Class II, and Class III city, as classified in section three of this article (except in those instances where the context in which used clearly indicates that a particular class of city is intended), heretofore or hereafter incorporated as a municipal corporation under the laws of this state, however created and whether operating under: (i) A special legislative charter. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- County commission: shall mean the governmental body created by section 22, article eight of the Constitution of this state, or any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Governing body: shall mean the mayor and council together, the council, the board of directors, the commission, or other board or body of any municipality, by whatever name called, as the case may be, charged with the responsibility of enacting ordinances and determining the public policy of such municipality. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mayor: shall mean the individual called mayor unless as to a particular municipality a commissioner (in a commission form of government) or the city manager (in a manager form of government) is designated or constituted by charter provision as the principal or chief executive officer or chief administrator thereof, in which event the term "mayor" shall mean as to such municipality such commissioner or city manager unless as to any particular power, authority, duty or function specified in this chapter to be exercised, discharged or fulfilled by the mayor it is provided by charter provision or ordinance that such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled by the individual called mayor and not by a commissioner or city manager, in which event such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall in fact be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled in and for such municipality by the individual called mayor: Provided, That in the exercise and discharge of the ex officio justice of the peace, conservator of the peace, and mayor's court functions specified in this chapter, the term "mayor" shall always mean the individual called mayor. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
(1) Make and pass all needful ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions, rules and regulations not contrary to the Constitution and laws of this state; and
(2) Prescribe reasonable penalties for violation of its ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions, rules and regulations, in the form of fines, forfeitures and confinement in the county or regional jail or the place of confinement in the municipality, if there is one, for a term not exceeding thirty days.
(b) The fines, forfeitures and confinement shall be recovered, imposed or enforced under the judgment of the mayor of the municipality or the individual lawfully exercising the mayor's functions, or the police court judge or municipal court judge of a city, if there is one, and may be suspended upon reasonable conditions as may be imposed by the mayor, other authorized individual or judge.
(c) Any municipality may also maintain a civil action in the name of the municipality in the circuit court of the county in which the municipality or the major portion of the territory of the municipality is located to obtain an injunction to compel compliance with, or to enjoin a violation or threatened violation of, any ordinance of the municipality, and the circuit court has jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. A certified transcript of a judgment for a fine rendered by a municipal court may be filed in the office of the clerk of a circuit court and docketed in the judgment lien book kept in the office of the clerk of the county commission in the same manner and with the same effect as the filing and docketing of a certified transcript of judgment rendered by a magistrate court as provided for in section two, article six, chapter fifty of this code. The judgment shall include costs assessed against the defendant.
(d) In addition to any other costs which may be lawfully imposed, an additional cost shall be imposed in an amount of not less than $42 for a traffic offense constituting a moving violation, regardless of whether the penalty for the violation provides for a period of incarceration, and for any other offense for which the ordinance prescribing the offense provides for a period of incarceration. Of the $42 imposed as an additional cost, $2 are administrative costs to be retained by the municipality, and $40 shall be paid into the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the State Treasury in accordance with section one-a of this article.
(e) Execution shall be by fieri facias issued by the clerk of the circuit court in the same manner as writs are issued on judgments for a fine rendered by circuit courts or other courts of record under the provisions of section eleven, article four, chapter sixty-two of this code.