Duty or public service: JPs vary on nuptial fees
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008
An attorney general's opinion released this week saying that justices of the peace can't charge for weddings is a no-brainer to many across the state who say they've never set a price for officiating over a couple's "I do's."
"You can't do it,"said Faulkner County Justice of the Peace Jimmy Bryant, who said he has performed hundreds of weddings since taking office in 2003. "I say, 'If you want to make a gift, you can, but you don't have to.' The vast majority of weddings I have done, no money ever exchanges hands. I look at it as a public service."
The opinion, requested by state Rep. Joan Cash, D-Jonesboro, and released Monday, states that no "state statute authorizes the charging of such a fee."
The opinion doesn't delve into whether a justice of the peace can accept a gift or gratuity for the service, saying that is a question best left up to the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Graham Sloan, the commission's executive director, said his agency has never researched that specific question. If it did, Sloan said, two factors would be important: whether officiating at a wedding is considered a duty of the office, and whether any compensation would be considered private pay for public work.
"I know that JPs are authorized to marry people … the question would be is that a duty or responsibility,"Sloan said. "If it is their duty, then you couldn't get paid for doing it."
Benton County Justice of the Peace Tim Summers said he's performed close to 3, 000 weddings in the past 14 years.
"You have to charge something, because you can literally spend all of your time doing it,"he said.
Summers doesn't charge a flat fee, but couples generally ask him for a recommendation before the ceremony. He's received as little as $ 20 for a wedding in a park and as much as $ 200 for a large ceremony.
"I've had circumstances where people were unable, and I've never not done one because they couldn't pay,"Summers said.
He won't accept money from members of the military, he said.
Summers said he appreciates being compensated for the time he puts into each wedding, which can be as much a three or four hours between driving time, wait time and rehearsals.
"I spend a lot of time with people when I do a ceremony, so it's usually worth it for them to pay for it,"he said.
Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-402 prohibits a public servant from accepting a gift for doing his job. But that same statute defines a "gift"as anything with a value greater than $ 100.
"Accordingly, a public servant could receive an item conferred to show appreciation for the public servant's job performance so long as the item was not worth more than $ 100,"according to a July 1999 advisory opinion issued by the Ethics Commission.
The question came up in Craighead County when a justice of the peace wondered whether he could charge for performing a wedding, and if he did, whether he had to turn the money over to the county, County Judge Dale Haas said.
"It came up out of a question of curiosity,"Haas said. "Some had interpreted it that if you were paid, it had to be paid into the county general fund. They just wanted to clarify the issue."
Mark Whitmore, chief counsel for the Arkansas Association of Counties, said the association tells justices of the peace that they aren't allowed by law to collect fees for performing weddings, but nothing prohibits them from accepting gifts valued at less than $ 100.
"There is somewhat of a custom when somebody is performing a marriage ceremony, whether it's a preacher, a judge or a justice of the peace, people will frequently give them a gift,"Whitmore said. "Our general answer would be you can't charge a fee … but in terms of a gift, at this point we are under the impression that the Ethics Commission hasn't addressed it."
In 2004, some members of the Pulaski County Quorum Court tried to pass an ordinance that would have barred justices of the peace from lingering in the courthouse to solicit wedding proceedings. The proposed legislation was directed at then Justice of the Peace Kathy Lewison, who had married about 70 couples in six weeks. Ultimately, the ordinance failed.
Benton County Justice of the Peace Robert Stephenson performs a few weddings each month in Siloam Springs. He doesn't charge, but he said couples occasionally tip him.
His most generous tip was $ 100 from a couple who showed up late for the ceremony, he said.
Washington County Clerk Karen Combs Pritchard keeps a list of justices of the peace willing to perform weddings, but rates for the service aren't listed, she said.
"Most of them don't charge anything at all,"Pritchard said. "We used to have a JP who'd ask couples to bring a bottle of wine."
Justice of the Peace Jessie Bryant performed 24 weddings in May, the most of any Washington County justice of the peace. She didn't receive any compensation for them, she said.
Washington County Justice of the Peace Joe Patterson said most couples expect to pay.
"We usually tell them to make a donation to a favorite charity or church or something like that,"he said. Information for this article was contributed by Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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