Columbia has seen a decrease in court fines and may use an outside firm to collect delinquent funds.
The city would still get the full amount of the fine, as the person owing the fine would have to pay a penalty above that amount (25 percent in Mississippi or 50 percent out of state) to the collection agency.
The Board of Aldermen plans to continue discussion of the idea Tuesday following an initial meeting with Gene Newman of the Mississippi Warrant Network on Sept. 18. Police Chief Michael Kelly said he has worked with the service before, when he was chief in Seminary.
“As you know, we were low on that collection during our last budget year. We want to do everything to be proactive in order to recover some of that,” Kelly said. “I believe this would be a very positive thing for the city, and you’ll see that it’s not going to cost us anything.”
Newman, of Pearl, said his father founded the company when judges asked him about what could be done to help collect fines. Locally, the service is used by Jefferson Davis County and Seminary.
Newman emphasized that his company doesn’t get paid if it doesn’t collect anything and that the city still gets the full amount of the fine.
He said the court clerk notifies his company of anything that is six months old, and they find the people and send them a letter. He said they’ve been in the bail bonding business and know how to find people but do not pick them up.
He also added there is no statute of limitations on fines.
“If you’ve got it still in your books, we’ll go collect it,” Newman said.
Mayor Justin McKenzie said he wanted to study the information and bring it up at a future meeting.
“It sounds like a win-win,” he said. “If we collect based on you sending them here then we collect and you collect. It’s a simple process; we’ve got nothing to lose. We can come back at the Oct. 2 meeting and discuss it.”
