Evansville Courier-Press - September 14, 2006
Collections get their attention By KATE BRASER Courier & Press staff writer 464-7622 or braserk@courierpress.com Thursday, September 14, 2006 Thousands of Vanderburgh County residents are now receiving letters from a collection agency for child support processing fees owed to the county. Over the next few months, more than 16,000 letters will be mailed by an Ohio-based collection agency contracted by the county clerk’s office. Clerk Susan Kirk described the process as a “cleanup” effort to collect child support docket fees. Under Indiana law, the payor is required to pay an annual $20 fee, but the clerk cannot deduct the fee from a child support payment, so it is sent as a bill. “We’re cleaning records from 10 years ago and getting money owed the county,” she said. Just five days into the collection effort for Vanderburgh County, Craig Klein, president of Capital Recovery Systems, said his collection agency has already collected $28,000 for the county. Kirk said the money will be put into the county’s general fund. Klein said the average balance owed is $226.03, which includes a 30 percent late fee added on. Klein said his company is currently doing the same thing in at least 15 Indiana counties, because beginning in April, the state will take over collection of child support docket fees. “Because what I see happening come April is whoever gets that money first is going to keep it,” he said. “Many county clerks in Indiana are trying to get the money before the state takes it over.” Klein said his company’s cost is passed on to the defendant. But several of the people who have already received the collection letters say they didn’t owe the money at all. Harlan Simmons and Beverly Knight - both from Evansville - were shocked to get letters claiming they each owe $455. Simmons’ daughters were born in 1961 and 1964. He hasn’t paid child support in years, but received a letter. He was told in order to clear his name, he will need his daughters to present either a driver’s license or birth certificate to Kirk’s office, which he worries will be hard to do since one daughter lives out of state and the other doesn’t have a license because of a medical condition that prevents her from driving. “You get a lot of older people who get scared when it says something about court and they’ll automatically pay it,” Simmons said, “But I’ll fight anything unjust, not just for me but for others.” Knight was already able to clear her name from the list of those who owe the fee. She had her 32-yearold stepdaughter take her driver’s license to the clerk’s office Tuesday. Knight said she got a personal phone call on Wednesday from Kirk, who wanted to apologize for the inconvenience. “She was very nice about it,” Knight said.