§ 10-79. Fees collection.

(a)

In all counties in this state having a population of 600,000 or more according to the United States decennial census of 1990 or any future such census there shall be collected by the clerk of the state court of the county a fee of $2.00 and by the clerk of the magistrate court of the county a fee of $3.00. These fees shall be collected, in addition to any other fees or charges authorized by law, from the plaintiff or other moving party in each civil suit, action or proceeding for which fees are required to be paid by such party. Such fees shall be charged only once in each case and shall be charged at the time of filing of the first papers in the action.

(b)

All fees collected pursuant to subsection (a) during each month shall be paid by the clerk or by the county to the agency designated pursuant to this section no later than the last day of the next calendar quarter after the quarter of the month in which collected.

(c)

Fees collected pursuant to subsection (a) shall be used by the agency designated pursuant to this section only for the public and charitable purposes provided by this article.

(d)

In connection with the annual accounting required in section 10-78(3), all fees collected pursuant to subsection (a) which have not been disbursed or committed for use in discharging the duties described in section 10-78 shall be refunded to the clerk of the state court and the clerk of the magistrate court, the amounts refunded to said clerks being proportional to the amounts received from them during the year, or to the county, and such fees shall be used as other unrestricted court costs collected by the clerk.

(1979 Ga. Laws (Act No. 58), page 3131, § 4; 1981 Ga. Laws (Act No. 688), page 4451, § 2; 1984 Ga. Laws (Act No. 744), page 4092, § 1; 1992 Ga. Laws (Act No. 823), page 1056, §§ 1—3)