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| Ken Kraft |
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure has filled most of his cabinet in record time. But he has taken his time about this slot. He knows the arguments.
Although the titles sound similar, the Court Administrator and Director of Court Services have different functions and report to different bosses. The former is a state employee who works for the courts. The latter is a county employee who answers to the Executive.
One of the many problems facing all counties statewide is what to do about criminal offenders who refuse to pay fines, costs and restitution. They thumb their noses at the system,and the rest of us end up footing the bill. Instead of using fines and costs to pay for county operations, the burden falls on taxpayers who have never received as much as a parking ticket. It also falls heavily on victims who are never compensated for their losses at the hands of a thug.
One perfect example is a Vietnamese immigrant I know who was shot in the chin while taking a walk in Easton in 2016. His clothes and even his shoes were confiscated. He was unable to work for several weeks. One of three assailants was prosecuted. But my Vietnamese friend received no restitution, not even for his shoes or blood-soaked clothing.
Another perfect example involves Tricia Mezzacappa, a member of the NorCo GOP Executive Committee. She was convicted of harassing a West Easton Borough employee. She appealed her matter to county court, and lost. She then appealed to the Superior Court and lost again in late 2014. But she thumbed her nose at a demand for the $646.88 she still owes the county for her criminal conduct. So the taxpayers are stuck with the bill.
According to statistics maintained by the Unified Judicial System website, there are $55,659,038 in unpaid fines, costs and restitution owed to Northampton County courts during the period between 2007 and 2016. These are just the county courts. the actual figure may be much higher.
Northampton County hired a collections firm, which managed to collect $73,000. But that pales in comparison to what is owed. Once a Defendant is released from probation, there's little that can be done.
This is where a Director of Court Services can help. If a local Defendant who has been released from probation is thumbing his or her nose at the courts, he can file a petition for indirect criminal contempt if convinced that the person has the means to pay. Obviously, there's no desire on the part of anyone to imprison anyone if he simply lacks the financial means to pay. But that person could then enter into a payment arrangement which might make a formal hearing unnecessary while bringing in revenue.
Instead of going after money that goes back as far as 1990 and probably will never be collected, the idea is to prevent the problem from continuing in the future.
When he was on Council, Lamont McClure was the lead advocate for bringing in a collections agency. This is a situation that still has him concerned.
Kraft told me that, right now, he's focused on his job and his position as Council President. But he will consider the appointment if it is offered.
Collection efforts had stopped under Executive John Brown.
17 comments:
Private Collection agencies are scary dudes.
Not only are they scary, they're greedy. Most get 30%-50% of what is collected, or they add their fee to what is owed.
is it worth spending a thousand dollars worth of time to collect a fifty dollar restitution cost?
Hire privates. They get a lot. But their net return is much higher than what’s currently being collected.
This should be done in-house. Like Lehigh County's Bureau of Collections. Get a couple of probation and conference officers, who already have experience in collecting through the courts, and start a collections department. Evaluate for cost-effectiveness after 1 year and go from there. I know of at least 2 conference officers who would jump at the opportunity!
@6:53. That is a great idea
One of the conditions of probation is paying court costs and fines. So how/why are folks released from probation without having paid those monies in full or having a payment plan in place?
Norco - dem inbreeding at it's worse
This is all the Judges fault. These glorified self righteous individuals give the appearance of being concerned about the victims of crime, but don't do a damn thing to help resolve the problem. they can keep these criminals on probation until their restitution is paid and that will end the problem. How about it JUDGES. Time to step up to the plate.
It's time for action on these payments to the victims. No vote for "retention" of a Judge until this matter clears itself up. How about it readers. Get on Board and let's stick together. I've had money coming for years and he courts won't do a thing about it. Vote "NO" for retention of all judges. The new battle cry for Northampton County Judges.
VOTE NO FOR RETENTION.
Private collection agencies are allowed by law to tack on an additional $25% to the amount owed. However, a private collection agency does not have any recourse to make someone who doesn't want to pay, pay. The defendants already have liens attached to their credit reports which they could care less about and they know a collection agency can't do anything. They can sue in civil court, but they must be personally served in order to proceed. The defendants know this and will not answer the door for anyone who is trying to serve them. Therefore, the only available option would be to do it in house and send the non-paying defendants to contempt court. You can't keep everyone on probation, as payment arrangements can stretch a decade or more and county probation departments can hardly keep up with their workloads now. In addition, counties do not allow defendants who are unable to pay, work their costs off, thus, leaving tax payers footing the bill. Lastly, there are no good enforcement techniques available by law. Most defendants will claim they are too poor to pay, yet they are the same defendants getting $10,000 tax returns because of the EIC credit. As such, counties are unable to intercept tax returns because congress can't get their act together and govern. There should be a number of changes to the laws to include: federal tax return intercept, work program to reduce costs, changes to SSI and SSD where counties are allowed to garnish a portion of the defendants monthly payment, and keeping the defendants on probation until they are paid-in-full. That way, it would be easier to violate someone for a probation violation, rather than taking them to contempt court. Believe me, most defendants do have the ability to pay, they can afford to smoke, they have expensive tattoos, better clothes than the working class, and have the best and most recent smart phones, but they refuse to pay. They feel they did their time and should owe nothing. My advice, don't ever ever become a victim of a crime. If you do, request a Rule 586, or plan for your losses now because if someone stole a $1,000,000 from you , you will never see it back. If the defendant can only afford to pay $50/month, then that is all you'll get. Change can only happen at the state and federal legislature. So, if you want change, contact your lawmakers and demand they give tools to the county to enforce collections.
As I understand it, 9:23 AM, you don't have to sue in Civil Court. You already have a judgment which has been transferred, by law, from Criminal Court to Civil Court. The last thing left, would be to execute on the judgment. Send the Sheriff's Department to levy on the Defendant's property (much like Bernie did, as a victim in his case). That is the only available legal option. Instead of hiring a collection agency, the County could hire a collection law firm. There is a difference. The collection law firm can execute on the judgment on behalf of the County. There are assets out there that the original criminal defendants are hiding. Now, there are good and bad collection law firms out there, so I would be careful with this last option. But, by law, this is the last option.
"Norco - dem inbreeding at it's worse"
Really. Did you worry about the Repub inbreeding four years ago?
The Court Services position is a joke! It is a hall walkers position that has been held by Gerry Seyfried and other political hacks.The mere fact that McClure would fill this position suggests what is on the horizon for the next four years!
Bernie - I have stated to the powers that be several years ago that the way to get reimbursement isn't via private collection agencies but to issue bench warrants for indirect criminal contempt, let it open to the Sheriff's and Constables and let us do our jobs. Money will be collected, that is what we do. I have done work for Monroe county who goes after their criminal defendants like this, I have taken them into custody and now the money is appearing for their release. It's a win win.
Fred Schoenenberger
Constable, Wilson Borough
Northampton Co.
"there are $55,5659,038 in unpaid fines, costs and restitution owed to Northampton County"
That can't be right. I asked Cusick, a math teacher, and he agreed that doesn't make sense.
Had an extra digit in there.
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