Minor

Defendant and Appellant William Thomas Minor, Sr., appeals a criminal conviction of infractions of the San Bernardino County Code, for accumulation of trash, rubbish and junk on his land, having a “nonpermitted structure” (i.e., using a storage unit as a residence), and maintaining a hog farm on the property without a conditional use permit. The criminal court not only found defendant guilty of these violations and entered orders for him to bring the property into compliance, it also, pursuant to San Bernardino County Code section 33.0112, ordered him to repay the costs of investigating, analyzing, and prosecuting the criminal action, in the amount of $1,014.00.

Defendant appealed to the Appellate Division of the San Bernardino County Superior Court (the Appellate Division). The Appellate Division panel concluded that, because there was no authorizing legislation permitting the county to recover the costs of criminal law enforcement in this instance, that portion of the sentence requiring defendant to pay the costs of the investigation and prosecution was unlawful.

We transferred the case to this court, on our own motion, pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule…