WACO, Texas — More than four thousand warrants have been resolved in the past three weeks by the Waco Municipal Court.
August 25 was the final day of the court’s amnesty program. A program that helped clear some warrants and reduce fees for unpaid tickets.
“You’re zeroed out, time served!”
Clearing the balance for warrants and late fees for unpaid tickets.
Today was the last day of Judge Bobby Garcia’s amnesty program—a program he said is meant to help people get back on their feet.
“This is their chance to get them reduced in a fair manner, or they can afford to pay it and a lot of people have been paying them off,” Judge Garcia said.
Rodnika Morrison is one of the many who took advantage of the opportunity—she said she had $8,000 in ticket fees.
“I had tickets that I got when I was 18-19 years old, reckless driver, never paid off. So big mistakes, but the program helped me reconsider that, and gonna get back on the road, and get back on page,” Morrison said.
Diannia Butler was in line with her son. She said his fees were drastically reduced.
“I think it’s really good because I think people deserve a second chance,” Butler said.
“He’ll be able to drive back and forth to work...Ya know momma won’t have to be doing it,” she said.
The Waco Municipal Court has around 40,000 active warrants, but with the amnesty program, more than 4,000 of those have been resolved. Judge Garcia said his goal was to help the community.
“Make the streets safer, and get people to get jobs, and you know, get their life back, you know take their kids to school without being afraid that you know, they’re gonna be arrested,” Judge Garcia said.
17 million dollars in uncollected fines is owed to the city—and Garcia said this program helps resolve some of that by setting reasonable amounts for residents to pay.
“I’m trying to make things fair for everybody. So I feel like everybody’s benefiting, and we’ve recouped a lot of fines,” he said.
Judge Garcia said the city might hold another amnesty program in the future, but right now they still have several applications to review.
