by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Since employing the services of a collection agency last December, the Duval County Courthouse has finally started collecting over $9 million in unpaid traffic fines.
“When we began looking at the list of people who never paid, we realized some of them just don’t care,” said Clerk of the Courts Jim Fuller. “When you get a ticket, you have several options; not paying it isn’t one of them. Some of these people had been driving on suspended licenses for five or six years. The numbers had gotten too high and we needed to do something about it.”
Following a Request for Proposals issued in the fall of 2002, Fuller made use of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson, LLP, a Texas-based collection agency, and the courts have already seen a healthy return.
“We’ve gotten back about $1.3 million so far,” said Fuller. “It’s really been wonderful. The best part is that we don’t even have to do anything. They take care of contacting the delinquent offender via mail and they even collect the money. All we have to do is watch for the electronic transfer of funds into our account. We don’t have to pay them anything.”
After 90 days, unpaid tickets are reported to Tallahassee where the offender’s license is suspended. After 180 days, they are turned over to collections with an additional 40 percent fine added, which goes to the collection agency.
“We feel like six months is more than enough time to do what you need to do,” said Fuller.
According to Fuller, Linebarger and Goggan have been able to find people who have moved out of the county and state.
“It’s been amazing,” said Fuller. “They are doing a such a great job and we’ve been surprised to see how well everything is working out.”
In addition to the previous list of outstanding fines, every evening the county court e-mails an updated list of tickets meeting the 180-day criteria to Linebarger and Goggan.
“Before, when we were working off of a paper trail, it was possible to slide though the system,” said Michael Connelly, assistant to the clerk. “With talking computers, we’re catching a lot more now.”
In the meantime, Fuller remains optimistic about the long-term benefits of the new system.
“We won’t be able to get everyone and that’s fine,” said Fuller. “The sheer numbers of what we’ve done so far make sense. We’ve gotten over a million dollars for the City without any cost. That’s pretty good.”