LITTLE ROCK — Carroll County is trying to collect almost $2 million in outstanding fines, fees and restitution that hasn’t been paid to the circuit court in Judicial District 19E.
Circuit Judge Kent Crow implemented the plan after Arkansas Chief Justice Jim Hannah met with judges from around the state and encouraged them to begin collecting outstanding debt.
The meeting came after an audit was released Feb. 24 indicating one reason courts across the state were having financial problems is a failure to collect fines and fees. Other reasons for the financial distress included fewer court cases being filed and the national recession, according to the audit of the state’s Administration of Justice Fund.
Crow began an active campaign to collect fines and is issuing warrants for those who have failed to pay, but he said little of the money collected actually returns to the court to help with operational costs.
The collection problem is exacerbated in Carroll County because the circuit clerk’s system isn’t automated.
“They’re not computerized, so everything is on ledgers,” he said of the records. “We discovered that we have a lot of problems with the old manual accounting system.
“When it comes to keeping up with fines and costs, we’re still living in the Dark Ages in Carroll County, but I’m trying to bring us into the light,” he said.
Crow said that in many counties, the sheriff is responsible for collecting the fines and fees, but in Carroll County, it’s the duty of the circuit clerk.
Carroll County Circuit Clerk Ramona Wilson said there’s no problem keeping up with the money that is collected. She said she provided spreadsheets of people who owed court costs to the judge, prosecutor and probation office monthly.
“We did that for several years,” Wilson said. “Then it was kind of dropped.”
Wilson said the Carroll County Quorum Court decides who is responsible for collecting the fines, but as circuit clerk, she can’t issue or serve warrants. Those chores must be done by the judge and sheriff’s office.
“Am I the one who’s supposed to be out there birddogging them?” she said, referring to those who haven’t paid the court. “Or do I just take the money when they do pay it? I collect it when it’s paid, but I’m not law enforcement.”
Wilson said her office has computers, but “I’m just not automated in that one particular area,” referring to the tracking of court costs.
“I think it can be put on the computers I already have,” she said. “We just need the software. That’s what I’ve been investigating.”
In the meantime, Wilson said, her office is going through the old records and providing information to the judge, who signs warrants for the arrest of people who are three months behind on paying fines, fees or restitution.
Those people aren’t jailed, Crow said, but they’re brought in to the sheriff ’s office, booked, given a court date, then released. If they don’t pay the money when arrested, they certainly know they still owe money to the court and exactly how much.
“It gets their attention,” said Crow. “Some of the cases are so old they’ve simply forgotten that they owe this money.”
In other cases, people assume they no longer owe the debt after they’ve served time in jail or prison, he said.
After a warrant for failureto-pay is issued, police officers have that information in their computer system, and it would come to their attention if they made a routine traffic stop or an arrest, Crow said.
Carroll County Sheriff Bob Grudek said his deputies have been serving the failure-topay warrants signed by Crow. So far, they’ve been through about one-eighth of the alphabet — people whose last names begin with A, B or C.
In March and April, 106 warrants were issued for failure to pay, Grudek said. Of that number, 24 arrests were made. Grudek provided a breakdown of the rest of those warrant-serving attempts Friday to Carroll County Quorum Court: 20 people were in state prison, five in county jail, three deceased and three have paid. Others have been more difficult to contact.
“Because these people are very transient, you may have a good address today, and they’ll move tomorrow,” said Wilson. “That’s where the problem lies, I think.”
Wilson said her office sent out letters to those who owe for the past three years, but that wasn’t very successful. Now they’re trying the warrants.
“I have been collecting more this year than we have in a long time, and I think part of the reason is those warrants,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the amount collected went from $4,500 in January to $11,900 in February, when one person came in and paid off a debt with an income tax refund. Payments have remained higher ever since. Wilson said she collected $11,000 in March and $9,700 in April.
When money is received, victims who are owed restitution are paid first, Wilson said.
“A lot of victims aren’t being compensated for their losses,” the sheriff said.
Crow said 47 people who owed money to the judicial district appeared before his court May 7.
“Court dates are being staggered so that we don’t get overwhelmed on any one day,” he said. “I think it went very well. We’re trying to clean up a considerable mess, if you will. ... Additionally, the word of this has gotten out on the streets, and some people are making efforts to get current without the issuance of the warrant.”
Grudek encourages that. If people come in and pay their debts before being served with a warrant, it saves the county money, he said.
Crow said judges across the state may not have been vigilant in collecting the fines because only a fraction of that money is returned to the court. The remainder is split up “according to statutory provisions,” with some going to the county general fund and other entities, he said.
“It gets split up several ways,” he said. “My actual court operations benefit in a very small way from anything that’s collected. I think that might be one reason a lot of judges haven’t put this on the front burner.”
Crow said if a person is on probation or has a suspended sentence, not paying fines could result in contempt of court and jail time.
“My objective here is not to scare people or put people in prison, but to ensure compliance and get this stuff off our books, because ultimately the requirement to pay fines and costs is an order of the court,” he said.
According to Grudek’s report to the Quorum Court, in the previous 20 years, only about 200 warrants for failure to pay had been issued in Carroll County, which constitutes Judicial District 19E.
“We became aware that we had a substantial amount of money reflected as being owed on old fines and costs,” said Crow. “And it ranges between $1.5 million and $2 million. There have not been any efforts by previous judges to attempt to collect any of this money.”
Crow has been the circuit judge for the past three years. Previously, he was a district judge in Berryville.
In fiscal 2011, the 315 courts that remit a portion of court costs and filing fees to the state’s Administration of Justice Fund collected $3.8 million, or 10.24 percent, less than in fiscal 2010. With less money flowing in, allocations from the fund to 25 programs in the state were cut by 18 percent.
Act 1256 of 1995 established the fund and made fees and court costs uniform across Arkansas, according to the audit.
Arkansas, Pages 16 on 05/23/2012