HD3 - Financing Collection Services

  • Published: 1988
  • Author: Office of the Attorney General and Department of Law

Executive Summary:
In 1982, Gerald L. Baliles, then Attorney General, recommended to the General Assembly that a unit be established in the Office of the Attorney General for the purpose of collecting obligations and debts owed to the Commonwealth. He believed that the systematic involvement of the Attorney General as a supplement to the internal debt collection efforts of State agencies would be cost-effective and would increase recoveries. He projected a $2.2 million recovery for the 1982-84 biennium.

The Claims Section was established in the Office in early 1982, with a Senior Assistant Attorney General, two Assistant Attorneys General, one claims professional and two secretaries. In the next three years, two claims professionals and a secretary were added to the unit. The Section quickly exceeded the Attorney General's projection, collecting $1,283,099 in 1982-83 and $2,303,370 in 1983-84, or a total of $3,586,469 in its first biennium of operation. By the 1984-85 fiscal year, collections had increased to $2,866,073 on a budget of only $254,856--or $11.24 collected for every $1.00 spent on the Section's operation. See "Collections by Fiscal Year," p. 8.