2023 Indiana Code › Title 33. Courts and Court Officers › Article 35. City and Town Courts › Chapter 3. Personnel; Expenses; Costs › 33-35-3-3. Bailiff of City Courts

Sec. 3. (a) The bailiff of a city court must be a police officer of the city assigned to the court by the chief of police, under direction of the board of public safety. However, the judge of the city court may appoint another person to serve as bailiff.
(b) The bailiff shall give bond payable to the city in the penal sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000), with surety to be approved by the mayor, conditioned on the faithful and honest discharge of the bailiff's duties. The bond shall be filed in the office of the controller or clerk-treasurer.
(c) The bailiff shall do the following:
(1) Be present at the sessions of the court, maintaining order and performing all other duties subject to the order of the court.
(2) Take charge of all executions issued by the court and see to the collection of the executions.
(3) Keep, in books to be furnished by the controller or clerk-treasurer, an accurate account and docket of all executions that come into the bailiff's hands, showing the:
(A) names of the defendants;
(B) date and number of the execution;
(C) amount of fines, fees, or penalties imposed; and
(D) disposition of the execution.
(4) Make and deliver a written report to the clerk of the court on Tuesday of each week, showing all money collected by the bailiff during the previous week, giving the:
(A) names of the defendants;
(B) number of executions; and
(C) amount of fines, fees, or penalties collected;
and pay the money to the clerk, taking the clerk's receipt for the payments.
(d) The salary of the bailiff shall be fixed as salaries of other police officers are fixed.
(e) The bailiff of a city court of the three (3) cities having the largest populations in a county having a population of more than four hundred thousand (400,000) and less than seven hundred thousand (700,000) shall be appointed by the judge of the court. The bailiff shall serve and execute all processes issued by the court and is entitled to receive a salary fixed by the common council of the city. In addition, the bailiff may collect a fee from a defendant for the bailiff's own use on all execution sales of property under an execution or attachment as follows:
(1) On the first fifty dollars ($50), ten percent (10%).
(2) On more than fifty dollars ($50) and not more than three hundred dollars ($300), five percent (5%).
(3) On all sums over three hundred dollars ($300), three percent (3%).
(4) Any additional sum necessarily expended by the bailiff in collecting the judgment.
A bailiff may use the bailiff's private vehicle in the performance of the bailiff's duties and is entitled to receive a sum for mileage equal to the sum paid per mile to state officers and employees. The payment to the bailiff is subject to the approval of the judge. The judge shall include in the budget for the court sufficient money to provide for the anticipated claims of the bailiff. The common council shall make annual appropriations that are necessary to carry out this subsection.
[Pre-2004 Recodification Citation: 33-10.1-6-3.]
As added by P.L.98-2004, SEC.14. Amended by P.L.11-2023, SEC.102.