814.60.Criminal actions; fees of the clerk of court.

Section 814.60 sets the basic filing fee charged in a Wisconsin criminal case. Subsection (1) requires the clerk of circuit court to collect this fee for all necessary filing, entering, or recording, and it falls on the defendant, payable when judgment is entered against the defendant. The fee is then split: the county treasurer pays a set percentage of what the clerk collects to the secretary of administration, for deposit in the state’s general fund, and keeps the rest for the county’s own use.

The dollar amount and the split are both changing. As printed, the statute’s operative text already reflects the amended, future figures: a $201 fee, with 65 percent going to the state and the county retaining the other 35 percent. But an official note explains that this amended version does not take effect until November 1, 2026, under 2025 Wisconsin Act 179. Until that date, the fee in force is $163, with 93.87 percent going to the state and the county keeping only the remaining 6.13 percent. So the change effective November 1, 2026 raises the fee itself and substantially shifts the split in the county’s favor, from roughly six cents on the dollar to thirty-five cents on the dollar.

The prior version of this section also contained a second subsection stating that, in addition to any fine imposed, a defendant must pay the costs, fees, and surcharges the chapter imposes. That subsection does not appear in the amended text taking effect November 1, 2026, which as printed consists of subsection (1) alone.