A St. Tammany Parish traffic ticket typically costs between $150 and $250 for common moving violations, with the exact amount depending on the offense, which agency issued the citation, and the court costs and state surcharges stacked on top of the base fine. If the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office issued your ticket, the fastest way to see your exact balance is the Sheriff’s Office online ticket lookup, which pulls the full amount owed when you enter your ticket number and date of birth.1St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. Ticket Payment Tickets written by Covington or Slidell police go through those municipal courts and have to be looked up separately.
Typical Amounts for Common Violations
The City of Covington publishes a public fine schedule that gives a useful benchmark for what drivers across the parish tend to pay. Sheriff’s Office and other municipal totals can differ, but they usually land in the same neighborhood:2City of Covington Louisiana. Fine Schedule
- Speeding 1–9 mph over the limit: $180
- Speeding 10–15 mph over the limit: $190
- Speeding 16–20 mph over the limit: $220
- Running a red light or stop sign: $195
- Expired inspection sticker: $180
- Expired or missing license plate: $195
Those figures already include court costs. Seatbelt tickets work differently and are the one place the price is predictable: Louisiana law sets a first-offense fine at exactly $50, with court costs included by statute. A second offense is $75 including court costs. On a third or later offense, the fine stays at $75 but regular court costs are added back on top.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32-295.1 – Safety Belt Use
Why the Total Is More Than the Base Fine
A ticket in St. Tammany Parish is almost never just the base fine for the violation. The number you owe combines the fine itself with court costs, administrative fees, and state-mandated surcharges that fund specific programs. The Louisiana Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund, for instance, is funded by surcharges attached to speeding tickets, reckless operation convictions, and DUI offenses, but not to every traffic violation.4Louisiana Department of Health. Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund Program That’s why two citations with similar base fines can produce different totals, and why a violation that sounds like it should carry a $50 fine ends up closer to $200.
How to Look Up Your Exact Balance
For a ticket issued by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, the online payment portal is the definitive source. Pull two things off the physical citation: the ticket number and your date of birth. Enter both into the search fields and the system shows your current balance with all court costs and surcharges included.1St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. Ticket Payment If you can’t find the ticket number, the portal has a secondary search option.
The bottom of the citation tells you which court has jurisdiction. If it was written by Covington or Slidell police rather than a deputy, contact that municipal court directly, because those tickets run through separate systems.
How to Pay
The Sheriff’s Office accepts payment three ways:5St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. Pay a Ticket/Court Fine
- Online through the ticket payment portal. A processing fee applies to card transactions.
- In person Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center, 701 North Columbia Street in Covington, or the Sheriff’s Administrative Complex, 300 Brownswitch Road in Slidell. Cash, check (no temporary checks), money order, and debit or credit cards are accepted in person.
- By mail to St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Attention: Collections Department, P.O. Box 1120, Covington, LA 70434.
Payments cannot be made over the phone. Paying is treated as a guilty plea, so if you plan to contest the ticket or pursue a defensive driving course dismissal, do not pay before your court date.6J. Collin Sims District Attorney 22nd Judicial District, Louisiana. Traffic
Tickets You Cannot Simply Pay
Some violations are court-mandatory in Louisiana, meaning you have to appear before a judge and the online portal won’t process payment. These include:7Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32-57 – Penalties; Alternatives
- Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Speeding 15 mph or more over the posted limit
- Speeding in a school zone
- Driving with a suspended license
- Drag racing
- Driving without required insurance
If any of these applies, show up on the court date printed on your citation. The Sheriff’s Office can confirm whether your ticket requires an appearance if you aren’t sure.
How to Keep the Real Cost Down
The sticker price on the ticket is only part of what a traffic conviction costs you. Louisiana doesn’t use a license point system, but the Office of Motor Vehicles records every conviction, and insurers price off that record. A single speeding conviction can push an annual premium up by roughly 25 percent, and that increase typically stays on the policy for three to five years. On a full-coverage policy, that’s hundreds of dollars a year.
Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 892.1 provides the main way to avoid that outcome. If you plead guilty or nolo contendere and ask the court for permission to take an approved driving course, the judge can defer sentence for 90 days. Finish the course, submit the certificate, and the charge is dismissed and kept off your driving record. Insurers are prohibited from raising rates based on a charge dismissed this way.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 892.1
The option comes with conditions. You need a valid driver’s license. You cannot have used the Article 892.1 dismissal within the two years before the date of the offense. It is not available if you were cited for 25 mph or more over the limit. You have to file an affidavit stating you aren’t already taking a course that hasn’t yet shown on your record. And only one charge per course can be dismissed, so a single stop that produced multiple citations only gets one of them cleared.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 892.1 For a ticket in the $180 to $220 range, the course fee plus a few hours of your time compares favorably against years of elevated premiums.
What Ignoring the Ticket Costs
The 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s office is explicit about the deadline: failing to pay your fine by 3:00 p.m. on the court date printed on the ticket will result in suspension of your driver’s license.6J. Collin Sims District Attorney 22nd Judicial District, Louisiana. Traffic
The court can also add an additional penalty up to the full amount of the original fine. A $195 stop-sign ticket you ignored can become a $390 obligation, with a suspended license on top of it.7Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes 32-57 – Penalties; Alternatives Getting the license reinstated means paying the original fine, any added penalty, and a reinstatement fee to the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles that starts at $25 for a first offense and climbs to $100 for a second and $200 for later offenses within five years.
If you miss the court date entirely, you’ll need to appear before a judge at the 22nd Judicial District Court to get the ticket placed back on the traffic docket. Louisiana law also lets courts collect unpaid fines out of state or federal tax refunds.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 211.1 – Persons With Outstanding Warrant Driving on a suspended license carries its own criminal penalties that make the original citation look small.