Millions of dollars owed to local courts

Collection policies differ, but officials have little hope of recouping fines.

Judge Rupert E. Ruppert presides over Franklin Municipal Court on Nov. 22. More than $14 million in unpaid court fines and fees are owed in Butler and Warren counties.

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer Judge Rupert E. Ruppert presides over Franklin Municipal Court on Nov. 22. More than $14 million in unpaid court fines and fees are owed in Butler and Warren counties.

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer 11:39 PM Saturday, November 26, 2011

Courts in Butler and Warren counties are owed more than $14 million in unpaid fines and fees, records show, and between a challenging economy and the nature of the fines and those supposed to pay them, officials say they have little hope in recouping much of that money.

A JournalNews examination of the municipal and common pleas courts show more than $14 million in unpaid fines and fees are owed by individuals who come before the court, either as criminals or in making a civil action.

Butler County Common Pleas has $2.6 million in unpaid fines and fees. Hamilton Municipal Court, which handles the most cases in both counties, is owed approximately $2 million, the most of the lower courts.

The large amounts owed comes in an economy where local governments have been forced to lay off employees and make cuts in services. It’s also during a time when criminal and civil cases have increased, forcing courts to expand, and in Warren County’s case, caused judges to ask for tax payers money to be spent on adding more space.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth said he understands it can be maddening for law-abiding citizens and taxpayers to see that millions of dollars are owed, but adds it’s just not a simple issue with a simple solution.

“Is it a burden to society? Is it a burden to those of us who are paying taxes? Sure it is, absolutely,” he said. “Can we realistically think that the people we want to either send to prison or rehabilitate, that they can pay enough fines and court costs to compensate tax payers for all it’s costing us? There is no way.”

Franklin Municipal Court Judge Rupert E. Ruppert was faulted in the recent election by his opponent for having $1 million-plus on his unpaid ledger. He says some of the unpaid balances have been on the books for years.

“It’s an accumulation of fines, some of these fines go back five, 10, 15 years,” he said. “Many of those people, you can’t find them. Some of them are dead, so there are a lot of reasons for uncollected fines.”

Aside from being unable to find people, Spaeth said criminal characteristics must also be considered. Most criminals he says are jobless and penniless.

“When you are dealing with by and large a very poor population, those are the people who are repeat criminal offenders, you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip,” he said.

Butler County Clerk of County Mary Swain’s staff sends out self-addressed stamped envelopes with reminder notices repeatedly to people who fail to pay.

“We do everything to collect, it’s not like we let this lay here and forget it,” said Carolyn Johnson, head of the clerk’s legal division. “But we do have some nice criminals and they say, ‘I owe and I’m going to pay or I’m going to go back to prison’... so we set up a payment plan.”

In spite of the uncollected fees, courts do collect large amounts. Butler County Common Pleas Court in 2010 levied $4 million in fees and fines. Just over $67,000 remained unpaid, according to Swain.

Mason Municipal Court in Warren County showed that in cases heard between January 2008 and December 2010, the clerks office had an 83 percent collection rate, pulling in $5 million of the $6.1 million owed.

Given the current economy and Butler County’s strained budget, Swain said she plans to avail her office of a new Ohio Attorney General’s Office service. Under the new state budget, legislators have authorized the state to offer collection services to local courts, according to spokesman Dan Tierney. He said the service is free to the local governments but debtors will be charged a 10 percent collection fee plus an additional 4 percent interest charge. If debtors are persistent in nonpayment then the fines and fees can be deducted from the person’s state income tax refund.

The legislature in 2007 convened a joint committee to study many aspects of the court fee and fine system that were viewed to be problematic. The committee made several recommendations in 2008, including one that would allow courts to erase uncollectible debts. A bill addressing that issue is working its way through the legislature now. Steven C. Hollon, administrative director for the Supreme Court of Ohio, who was co-chair of the committee, says collecting fines and fees is a pervasive problem.

“Leveling court fines and fees is one thing. Collecting them is another matter,” Hollon said. “It is in fact the case that courts throughout the state experience difficulty in collecting these monies. It is an ongoing challenge for the judicial system.”

In the three Butler County area courts, clerk Debbie Bolser said she began using a collection agency three years ago because the outstanding bills were mounting and the economy prompted her to try to capture the uncollected revenue.

Ohio Supreme Court reports showed Judge Daniel Gattermeyer’s court handled 21,386 cases in 2010, 2,499 more cases than Middletown Municipal. Gattermeyer said he takes a hard line on fine and fee collection, issuing arrest warrants in many cases where people refuse to pay and holding monthly fine reviews to monitor the regularity of payments made by people who don’t immediately take care of their obligation.

“It is especially challenging in this time of economic downturn to collect fines. However, the court here is aware that the collection of the fines is an important part of role in city government,” he said. “We review our collections on a regular basis and strive to collect all monies imposed as fines and court costs.”

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