Queen Creek would begin paying Maricopa County an estimated $500,000 to $600,000 a year to have its traffic, misdemeanor and code cases heard at the San Tan Justice Court, under an intergovernmental agreement on the Town Council's consent agenda for Wednesday, Nov. 18.
A second agreement would have the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office bill the town monthly for booking and housing people it arrests, at an estimated $175,000 to $225,000 a year.
How it got here
According to a memo from Town Manager Bruce Gardner and Town Attorney Clifford Mattice, staff from the presiding judge's office approached the town in 2025 about the time and cost the justice court was spending on Queen Creek's citations.
The town looked at extending its existing agreement with the understanding it would pick up those costs, but on May 6 the county Board of Supervisors chose to end the agreement instead, citing growing demands on judges and limited resources at San Tan.
During that discussion, supervisors told the town to consider starting its own municipal court. Gardner wrote that the town's planning had not foreseen a court until about 10 years after its police department began, which would put it around 2033, outside the current five-year plan.
Since the old deal ended, Gilbert's municipal court has been handling Queen Creek's code enforcement cases on an interim basis, the memo says.
