Butler County Sheriff's Office

[Public Info Officer]

For Immediate Release… Date: April 23, 2009

Sheriff’s Office to start charging Sex Offenders for registration…………..

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones announced today that starting June 1, 2009 registered Butler County sex offenders will be billed $25.00 each time they appear for regular registration.

Ohio Revised Code 311.171 ( Titled; Fees for sex offender registration and notification) allows an Ohio Sheriff’s Office to charge a fee to offenders with specific annual guidelines on what amount an offender can be charged and the reason for the charge. A required offender can be charged for the initial registration, for registering a “new” residence address, and for verification of a current residence address. The amount the Sheriff may charge is $25.00 per registration.
Tier III offenders and child-victim offenders may be charged no more than $100.00 (one hundred dollars) for each registration year. Offenders who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a sexually oriented offense or a child-victim offense (not including the Tier III. offenders) may not be charged an amount over $25.00 (twenty-five dollars) for each registration year.

Considerations can and will be applied in determining whether payment will be taken when offenders can show proof that their income is underneath the “federal poverty level”. This level is determined annually in accordance with section 673 of the “Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981”, 95 Stat. 511, 42 U.S.C.A. 9902, as amended, for a family size equal to the size of the family of the person whose income is being determined.

Notification letters are currently being mailed to Butler County registered Sex Offenders making them aware of this new process. Fees will be collected by the S.O.R.N. officers and these fees can be used to help “off-set” the expenses that the County pays each year for the registration and notification of sex offenders.

Prepared by: Sgt. Melina Smith
Criminal Investigations Division
(513) 785-1238