A bill in the Ohio House could lead to the elimination of nearly 30 percent of the state’s Mayor’s Courts, including three in Butler and Warren counties.

The Village of Seven Mile in Butler County, as well as Harveysburg and Maineville in Warren County, would lose out on that revenue should the bill pass on the House floor today.

The bill, introduced by District 54 Rep. Courtney Combs (R-Hamilton) will increase the population a municipal corporation must have in order to have a Mayor’s Court from more than 100 to more than 1,000. According to 2010 Census figures, Seven Mile has a population of 751, while Harveysburg has 546 and Maineville 975.

Seven Mile’s Mayor’s Court has brought in approximately $20,000 in revenue so far this year, according to Mayor Vivian Gorsuch, who also estimated that the village brought in approximately that same amount last year. Seven Mile has one court session remaining this year on Dec. 11.

“We’re already going to lose $13,000 next year because of state cuts to the local government funds,” Gorsuch said. “Another $20,000 plus would really hurt. They are just choking us here.”

Combs said the bill has been introduced several times before, but was defeated because it called for the elimination of all Mayor’s Courts. This time, he believes the 1,000 threshold will eliminate just those who abuse the system.

“It is wrong for governments to live off fines,” Combs said of how some communities abuse the system by setting “speed traps.”

“They run their government off speeding fines, and it was never designed to be that way,” Combs said. “The ones that are taking advantage will be hurt by this and they should be. The ones that do it right, it won’t hurt them at all.”

Combs said he doesn’t foresee a problem with the courts that would have to take on additional cases. For Seven Mile, the cases would be split between Hamilton Municipal Court and Oxford’s Area Court.

“It would really be a minimal impact on us,” said Hamilton’s Municipal Clerk of Courts Michelle Deaton

Hamilton averages a caseload of about 20,000 each year, including St. Clair Twp., Seven Mile, Ross Twp., New Miami and Hamilton, she said.

“Anything that ups our caseload is a good thing because it ups our revenue and we want to keep that up,” Deaton said.