Screenshot from the Civitek website.
(CN) With 15 board members and more than 100 employees, the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers act as a gatekeeper for attorneys and residents who access the state’s court system.
Through their own for-profit company CiviTek, the clerks manage a series of websites that process an estimated $500 million worth of transactions each year and collect millions in “convenience” fees.
Every time an attorney files a lawsuit, a couple submits divorce papers, or a parent makes a child support payment and pay with a credit card, they must navigate through CiviTek-created portals and pony up the company’s 3.5% convenience fee.
Florida’s elected clerks have worked their way into the heart of the court system by acting as online cashier and collecting millions of dollars in “convenience” fees through a for-profit corporation that is owned by the clerks and avoids sunshine laws.
Florida clerks association and Civitek books show assets of $26 million.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CN) In a two-story brick building, sandwiched between a townhouse community and a small shopping plaza on the north side of Tallahassee, dozens of employees process hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of electronic payments coming through Florida’s vast court system.
Every time an attorney files a lawsuit, a couple submits divorce papers, or a parent makes a child support payment, and pays with a credit card, this company, CiviTek, charges a 3.5% convenience fee raking in tens of millions of dollars a year.