Apologies if this doesn't belong here, I didn't see any local subs that made sense for this but if someone has a recommendation I'll post there instead.

Not sure how much information is needed for some advice but I'll err on the side of oversharing.

A couple months back in the city of Centerline in Macomb County Michigan I was in a minor accident. It was snowing and the streets were slick and I ended up sliding through a stop sign and into the intersection. A car coming from the left - no stop sign for them - saw me slide through but as luck would have it they slid when trying to stop as well and struck my front bumper in slow motion under 5 mph.

Damage didn't look bad but it was enough to crack the bumper so I did the right(?) thing and called the police station non emergency line to report the accident. Officer showed up, the usual routine of license, insurance, statements etc. The officer deemed me at fault and issued me an impeding traffic ticket for failing to stop. No big deal, if you had to issue blame it made more sense it was my fault than the other driver.

Took my car to the shop, got it fixed, paid my ticket and cut to today when I was thinking it was all over. I get a letter in the mail from the centerline PD. It's an itemized bill saying I owe $140 for the police vehicle (am I buying it? That's nearly my monthly car payment..), $20 for the officer himself and various other charges totalling $275. Things that you'd think would be covered by A - taxes and B - the $210 traffic ticket I was issued.

Has anyone else dealt with something similar to this? I'm wondering if there's any avenue available to me to fight this? Sadly this shady double dipping hasn't been banned in Michigan yet so I know legally I'm on the hook. But, if there's a way to take it to court like a traffic ticket I'm interested. If I'm going to be extorted by the city because they provided a service it would be illegal for me not to have called for I'll be happy to at least eat up all the potential profit they're looking to make.

If that's not an option, from what I've read these cities contract through a public company to issue these bills. If I don't pay this will I be at risk of being arrested like if I don't pay a ticket or will it just go to collections? I'm fine taking the hit to my credit to let this hit collections and pay that company instead. I guess I'm just really pissed and want to know my options to reduce the money this PD gets off this nonsense.