READ THIS-----How municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., profit from poverty

How municipalities in St. Louis County, Mo., profit from poverty - The Washington Post:
"Some of the towns in St. Louis County can derive 40 percent or more of their annual revenue from the petty fines and fees collected by their municipal courts. 
A majority of these fines are for traffic offenses, but they can also include fines for fare-hopping on MetroLink (St. Louis’s light rail system), loud music and other noise ordinance violations, zoning violations for uncut grass or unkempt property, violations of occupancy permit restrictions, trespassing, wearing “saggy pants,” business license violations and vague infractions such as “disturbing the peace” or “affray” that give police officers a great deal of discretion to look for other violations.
In a white paper released last month (PDF), the ArchCity Defenders found a large group of people outside the courthouse in Bel-Ridge who had been fined for not subscribing to the town’s only approved garbage collection service. 
They hadn’t been fined for having trash on their property, only for not paying for the only legal method the town had designated for disposing of trash."

....In addition to moving its municipal court to a gymnasium, just last week the council voted to add a $10 fee to every ordinance violation to fund a new, larger courthouse.
After all the recent national attention on Ferguson, local attorneys are floored.
“It’s just completely tone deaf,” says Khazaeli.
“They got caught violating the law. 
So in response they’re going to build themselves a new courthouse, and they’re going to finance it on the backs of the poor. 
It’s incredible.”
Harvey says there’s a much easier way to address the crowded courthouse problem.
“They could just hold more court sessions.
That would easily take care of the overcrowding.
It would also make life a little easier for the people who have to come to court.
But that would cost the city money.
So instead they’re just going to slap a new tax on the poor.”
Still, local attorneys say that even before the rule change, the lines for municipal court sessions in these towns — particularly the poorer towns — could often outside the courthouse doors and wind down sidewalks for blocks.