While the fees and costs associated with a traffic ticket differ from state to state, and sometimes even within a state depending upon the jurisdiction or county, most include the fine assigned to the violation you are pleading guilty to as well as other surcharges and court costs.

This fee is typically due whether you go to court or not since your citation will need to be processed through the court staff either way. If you contact the court listed on the ticket they should be able to explain to you about all the various surcharges and court fees associated with the speeding ticket and where these monies go to.

Some courts list this information online. I was unable to find a traffic court that listed the fees linked with a Pennsylvania traffic ticket but did find various courts in Wisconsin that did below is one such example just to give you an idea where surcharges go to.

The Madison, WI court states that the fees and surcharges that are added to your ticket are set by state statute. The legislature and the Governor have set the amount of these fees. These fees have increased drastically over the past ten years. The officer and the court must abide by state statutes. The officer and the court are not responsible for setting the amount of these fees and surcharges.

Furthermore, the Wisconsin courts explain that the dollar amount written on a WI traffic ticket is actually a combination of a forfeiture and numerous surcharges and fees. The forfeiture for an offense is a relatively small part of the total penalty that you must pay. For example, if you received a speeding citation, the minimum forfeiture for this offense is $30. In addition, Wisconsin law requires the citation to include other fees and surcharges totaling $126.20.

The WI court site even breaks down a typical speeding ticket in this manner:

Forfeiture: $30-Goes to the county; if it's a state charge, it's split 50-50 with the state

23 percent Penalty Assessment: $7.20-Goes to the state for a law enforcement training fund

Court Costs: $25-The state gets $15, the county gets $10

Justice Information Fee: $9-Goes to the state for computer systems development (includes non-court systems)

Jail Assessment Fee: $10-Goes to the Sheriff's Office for jail expansion and maintenance

Drug Enforcement Assessment: $7-Goes to the state crime laboratory

Court Support Fee: $68-Goes to the state; a portion is returned to counties in block grants for court-related expenditures

TOTAL: $156.20 for a person to pay on a normal speeding ticket in Madison, Wisconsin.

Hopefully the PA clerk of the court you speak to can give you information like this Wisconsin court site did for motorist. If the court cannot give you this information then see if PennDOT can.