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Macon County considers new plan for collecting olds fines

By STEPHANIE POTTER - H&R Staff Writer

DECATUR - May 13, 2005 - Two Macon County officials have a new plan to collect old court debts.

Circuit Clerk Kathy Hott wants to hire a compliance administrator to set up payment plans for debtors who owe court fines. State's Attorney Jack Ahola plans to use his investigators to track down debtors, then send them letters telling them they must see the compliance administrator to set up payment plans. New debtors also would be required to set up payment plans.

The administrator would monitor those plans. If they are violated, the debtors would be taken to court, with Ahola's assistants asking a judge to find the debtors in contempt of court, which could mean jail time.

The proposal is the latest step in the county's ongoing effort to collect old, unpaid court fines and fees. Hott plans to discuss the plan with the county board's finance committee May 31, at which time she will ask them for funding for the administrator's salary and supplies for the program. Until then, she does not want to comment on the cost of the program.

Dating back to the 1980s, the county, other municipalities and victims are owed about $12 million to $16 million in fines, fees and restitution. Much of that is uncollectible, but the county hoped to recover some of it by hiring Midwest Credit and Collection Inc. last year.

How - or if - Ahola and Hott's plan will affect the county's contract with Midwest Credit and Collection Inc. remains to be seen.

In September, county officials gave the agency a list of more than 1,100 traffic cases from 2001 in which nearly $272,000 was owed. As of April 31, $10,246 had been collected on that debt. Of that, the bulk, $5,389, is owed to the city of Decatur. The county is owed $2,781 and the state $2,076.

Of what has been collected, 30 percent will go to the collection agency, Hott said. Hott attributes much of the payments so far to debtors needing to pay up in order to have their licenses renewed. Licenses are updated every four years.

Hott said she's not sure hiring the outside agency was worth the cost, but she doesn't plan to make any recommendation to the county about whether it should send more cases to Midwest Credit.

Ahola said judges have agreed to give his civil attorneys court time to hear unpaid fine cases. He plans to start with a mix of cases in which the county is owed money and those in which victims are owed restitution.

Ahola questions the validity of the three-year contract with Midwest Credit, which was signed in July 2004 by County Board Chairman David Wolfe, D-Oakley, and Dave Shields of Midwest Credit. The county board approved the selection of Midwest Credit to do the collection work in August 2003, but the contract presented at that time was a one-year deal that was never signed by Shields.

Former State's Attorney Scott Rueter said at the time that the contract was not presented to Shields because of concerns about how Hott's office would handle the work involved.

The resolution passed by the board gave Wolfe the authority to enter into the one-year contract or "one substantially similar." Ahola questions whether the three-year contract meets that definition. Wolfe said Rueter's office gave him the go-ahead to enter into the three-year contract.

Ahola said whether or not the contract is determined to be valid, Midwest Credit would be paid for the work it has done. It's possible the county could send some cases to the company, particularly for fines involving other municipalities, such as the city of Decatur.

"They've been doing some work," Ahola said of Midwest Credit. "I don't think it's fair to stiff them."

Shields did not return a call seeking comment on the contract.

The contract with Midwest Credit does not include mention of a new law passed in July that allows state's attorney's office to hire collection agencies and pass the fees for collection on to the debtor. Ahola said the contract should be modified to take that into account.

Another issue is how Midwest Credit will be paid. Hott said there is no line in the county's budget for that payment, so she needs to discuss with county board members from which fund the payment will come. The fine payments have been credited to the Circuit Clerk fees fund, Auditor Amy Stockwell said.

County board member David Williams, R-Maroa, who long pushed for a debt- collection effort, said he has no problem with the county doing its own collection. But he wants to see the contract with Midwest Credit continue.

"They're a competent and a capable company," Williams said.

The state's attorney is required by law to collect all fines and fees assessed by the court. The city of Decatur now has an agreement with the county to pay the fees charged by the collection agency on any fines owed to the city that are collected.

But Williams said if the compliance administrator program works, Decatur and other municipalities should be willing to pay part of the cost to keep it going, particularly because a large percentage of the unpaid traffic tickets were issued by Decatur police.

"The city of Decatur is going to be the biggest winner in this thing," he said.

Stephanie Potter can be reached at spotter@;herald-review.com or 421-7984.