Fines down in South Carolina; officials don’t know why

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is collecting less in fines, but officials say they aren’t sure why.

The Greenville News reports (http://grnol.co/1N9WHz5 ) that the state Board of Economic Advisors says South Carolina collected $8.4 million in fines in the fiscal year that ended in June. That was $200,000 less than the previous fiscal year.

Most of that money is collected through traffic tickets. The Highway Patrol says it has issued just under 300,000 tickets during the first eight months of 2015, down more than 10,000 tickets from the same period in 2014.

Chief Justice Jean Toal says another possible reason for the decrease in fee collections is fewer civil cases were filed in recent years.

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Information from: The Greenville News, http://www.greenvillenews.com