Illinois Town Hires Agency to Collect Overdue Fees and Fines

City officials in Pinckneyville, Ill. agreed to hire Credit Collection Partners, a Taylorville, Ill.-based collection agency, to collect unpaid city fees and fines ranging from criminal offenses to traffic offenses.
 
Pinckneyville Circuit Clerk Kim Kellerman told city board members that the past-due amount collected by the agency will go to Perry County for disbursement through Kellerman's office, and thus there is no cost to the county or city officials. Instead, debtors will be charged an additional 30% on top of the delinquent amount, a charge that Credit Collection Partners will keep.

Pinckneyville is located in Southern Illinois and has a population of approximately 5,000. The city did not disclose the total outstanding fines or what it hopes to net from the agreement with Credit Collection Partners.

The agreement continues a pattern of municipalities sending past-due accounts and fines to third-party debt collectors. Most recently, Logansport, Ind. hired Transworld Systems to run collection services.

Logansport, which has a population of approximately 18,000, issued liens totaling more than $382,000 last year,  a figure that soared from $60,000 in 2012 after officials added property demolition fees to the usual property cleanups and mowing fees. Logansport officials hope to recoup some of those outstanding liens.

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