The number the judge says out loud is almost never the number you pay.
Arizona stacks several distinct financial obligations on a criminal conviction, and they operate under different rules. One considers whether you can afford it. One expressly does not. One can be worked off with labor. One follows you for decades. Knowing which is which is the difference between a manageable outcome and a debt that outlasts the sentence.
Three Separate Obligations
- Fines are punishment, paid to the state.
- Restitution is compensation, paid to the victim for economic loss.
- Costs, fees, and assessments fund the court system and supervision.
They are ordered together, they appear on one piece of paper, and they behave nothing alike.
Fines
Misdemeanor fines are capped by class. Under the statutes governing misdemeanor sentencing and fines, the maximums for an individual are $2,500 for a class 1 misdemeanor, $750 for a class 2, $500 for a class 3, and $300 for a petty offense. The City of San Luis publishes the same schedule on its prosecutor’s page.
Felony fines run substantially higher and are capped separately by statute. Some offenses carry mandatory minimum fines regardless of circumstances, which is why a first DUI conviction costs far more than the base fine suggests.
Every one of those figures is a base amount, before surcharges.
The Surcharges Are What Surprises People
Arizona does not add one surcharge. It adds several, each set by its own statute, each calculated as a percentage of the base fine, and each stacking on top of the others.
The practical result is that a fine grows considerably by the time it reaches the payment window. A base amount in the hundreds becomes a materially larger obligation, and a base amount in the thousands grows accordingly.
Ask for the total, in writing, before agreeing to anything that includes a fine. A resolution that looks affordable at the base number can look very different once the surcharges are applied, and that matters when weighing a plea offer.
Restitution Operates Under Different Rules
Restitution compensates a victim for economic loss caused by the offense. Medical bills, property damage, lost wages, repair costs, and counseling expenses all qualify.
Arizona requires the court to consider all losses caused by the offense or offenses of conviction. Victims have a constitutional right to restitution in this state, which is why courts treat it as mandatory rather than discretionary.
Economic loss is the limit. Pain and suffering is a civil concept and does not belong in a restitution order.
The Rule Nobody Expects
Here is the provision that catches people, and it is worth reading twice.
Under A.R.S. § 13-804, the court shall not consider the economic circumstances of the defendant in determining the amount of restitution. Whether you can pay is legally irrelevant to how much is ordered.
Your circumstances come back in at the next step. After the amount is set, the court or a designated staff member decides the manner of payment, and at that stage the statute requires consideration of the defendant’s economic circumstances, including all assets and income.
So the amount is fixed by the victim’s loss. The schedule is set by your ability to pay. Two different questions, two different rules, and conflating them is how people end up agreeing to figures they never contested.
The statute also provides that restitution payments are not stayed by filing an appeal.
Restitution Does Not Go Away
This is the obligation with the longest tail.
Unpaid restitution can be converted into an enforceable order that functions like a civil judgment, collectible through the ordinary means available to any judgment creditor. Restitution liens attach in favor of the state for the total amount of fines, surcharges, assessments, costs, incarceration costs, and fees ordered.
Criminal restitution is also generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Fines and court fees behave differently, but restitution follows a person.
In theft and property cases, the restitution figure is frequently larger and more consequential than any fine, and it is often the single most negotiable number in the case. Disputing the claimed loss amount, requiring documentation, and contesting causation are all legitimate and routinely skipped.
Costs, Fees, and Assessments
Alongside fines and restitution come probation supervision fees for the length of supervision, assessments imposed on conviction, incarceration costs where jail is ordered, diversion program fees, treatment and testing costs, and time payment fees for using a payment plan.
Supervision fees in particular add up. A multi year probation term carries a monthly obligation that can exceed the fine itself over time, as our guide to probation explains.
If You Cannot Pay
Speak up rather than defaulting silently. Courts have procedures for this and defaulting creates far worse problems, including warrants and probation violations.
- Ask for a payment plan. Standard and routinely granted.
- Ask about community restitution. Arizona permits a court to order community restitution in place of all or part of a fine, fee, assessment, or incarceration cost where a person is unable to pay, credited at ten dollars an hour. Note the limit. It does not apply to surcharges.
- Ask for a review hearing. Circumstances change, and orders can be revisited.
- Ask about mitigation of the fine. Courts have authority to reduce certain monetary obligations in appropriate cases.
What the court cannot do is jail you simply for being too poor to pay. Willful refusal is a different matter and is treated as one.
What To Do
Get the full number in writing, including surcharges, before agreeing to any resolution.
Contest the restitution amount if it is not documented. Nobody else will.
Keep every receipt and confirmation. Payment disputes years later are resolved on paperwork.
Tell your lawyer early if payment will be a problem, so it can be built into the resolution rather than fixed afterward.
And understand which obligations end with the case and which do not, which is covered further in our guide to life after a conviction.
Talk to an Arizona Criminal Defense Attorney
The financial terms of a resolution deserve the same scrutiny as the jail terms, and they are frequently easier to change. Citrine Law handles criminal defense throughout Yuma County and appears regularly for clients charged near the border. The consultation is free, we work in English and Spanish, and nothing you tell us leaves this office. Call us today.