County Attorney’s Fine Collection Programs Show Growth
In July of 2007 three new employees were hired in Polk County Attorney John Sarcone’s Office. The daily routine of these employees is entirely devoted to collecting overdue obligations owed by persons who have been involved in the criminal justice system.
One component of the Fines Collection Program is the License reinstatement Program (LRP). In the past fiscal year, the program signed up over 300 new participants and total participation now numbers 393 active clients. Each of these participants pays a minimum of $50 per month on their past due court obligations. As long as they stay current on their payments and provide the County Attorney staff proof of insurance, participants are permitted to obtain and maintain a valid driver’s license. If the County Treasurer has a hold on their tag renewal because of the non-payment of fines, that hold can be lifted by County Attorney staff upon execution of a payment plan.
A second component of the collections program is devoted to those who don’t qualify for LRP or who have court debt that is not traffic related. In fiscal year 2007/2008 1183 garnishments were filed with the court and a total of $136,364 was collected by the Sheriff from employers and turned over to the Clerk of Court for payment of overdue Court debt. There are currently 91 debtors who have signed voluntary wage assignments with the collection program to avoid having their wages garnished.
The County Attorney’s collection staff has also been assisting the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in the Sheriff’s “Pay to Stay” program. Iowa law allows County Sheriffs to charge a daily fee for those prisoners who have been in the Sheriff’s custody in jail, if they ultimately are convicted of a criminal offense. Prisoners who stay in the Polk County jail are charged a $50 per day fee and a one time administrative fee of $75. Those who have the ability to pay who don’t pay up, risk having their wages garnished by the County Attorney’s collection staff. In fiscal year 2007/2008 the Sheriff’s “Pay to Stay” program generated increased revenues of $104, 222 over the previous years’ collections. Fiscal year 07/08 collections were $586, 925 compared with 06/07 collections of $482,702, a 25% increase. If these monies were not collected from prisoners, Polk County taxpayers would bear the entire burden of maintaining and running the jail.
County Attorney collections staff is working with members of the Sheriff’s staff to establish a credit card collection system within the new jail so that prisoners can pay with a credit card for their stay at the time of release from jail.
Other miscellaneous funds collected by County Attorney staff this past fiscal year include $2500 in Hazmat fees owed to the County and $51,785 owed to the Iowa Department of Transportation for civil penalties owed by suspended drivers.
The County Attorney’s Collection Program is a division of the Polk County Attorney John Sarcone’s Restorative Justice Center and staff can be reached at 515-286-3057.