Billings Municipal Court Lets You Pay Fines… With Food. Yes, Really.

UPDATE 11/17 - We received clarification from the City that this offer does not pertain to parking tickets. 

Suppose you’ve been procrastinating on that pesky Billings court fine... I get it, life happens. But now it's time to pay the fine, and there's a novel way to help reduce the bill on your ticket.

Billings Municipal Court is once again offering a way to clear the slate and help local families at the same time. It’s called Food for Fines, and it’s one of the few government programs where everyone actually wins.

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Here’s how Food for Fines works.

Now through November 21, you can bring non-perishable, unopened, unexpired food items to Billings Municipal Court at 316 N. 26th Street, and for every item you donate, the court knocks $10 off your fines. You can take off up to $200 total, which is no small chunk of change during the most expensive grocery-shopping month of the year.

A couple of fine-print notes (pun intended):

• Donations can’t be applied toward restitution.
• Your fines can’t already be in collection.
• And Monday, November 17, isn’t a donation day.

Donation drop-off hours are simple:

• Nov. 14 9 AM – 3 PM
• Nov. 18–21  9 AM – 3 PM

All the food collected goes straight to local food pantries, places that could really use the help heading into the holidays.

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So if your pantry has a few extra cans of soup… or if your glove box currently contains a reminder of a fine you’ve been avoiding since August… this is your chance to trade shelf-stable groceries for a reduced fine.

Clean up your fines. Help a neighbor. And get rid of that extra can of Spaghettios you aren’t using for Thanksgiving.