Countywide

A $1.50 surcharge on all parking ticket fines will help pay for construction of new county courts, beginning Jan. 1. The San Diego County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to take advantage of a bill signed Oct. 2 by Gov. George Deukmejian that allows counties to impose the surcharge.

The surcharge is expected to bring about $600,000 a year into the county’s courthouse construction fund. The county has agreed to reimburse cities for any direct costs they incur in administering the surcharge.

The county is already collecting about $1.5 million a year from a surcharge on fines for violations other than parking tickets. That charge was imposed in 1983.