RD321 - Annual Report on the Collection of Fines and Fees by Circuit and District Courts


Executive Summary:
Court Clerks

• In FY06, Court Clerks assessed $438,877,634 and collected $329,814,073 in fines and fees.
• The collection rate for Court Clerks was 75.1 percent.
• Collections between FY05 and FY06 increased by $8,097,814; however, the collection rate decreased (0.9 percent).

Commonwealth’s Attorneys

• In FY06, net assessments of delinquent fines and fees by Commonwealth’s Attorneys were $94,058,855.
• Gross collections for Commonwealth’s Attorneys were $58,281,862.
• Net collections in FY06 were $45,955,297.
• The collection rate was 62.0 percent.
• Net collections between FY05 and FY06 increased $1,366,303, and the collection rate increased 2.5 percent.
• The Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County utilizes the Department of Taxation as their collection agent for all delinquent court fines and fees. Due to system compatibility problems between the Fairfax Clerk’s new court system and the Department of Taxation’s system, the delinquent fines and fees reported by the Fairfax County Circuit Court to the Department of Taxation could not be compiled, and no delinquent assessments are included in this report for FY06 for Fairfax County Circuit Court. However, as of the date of this report all outstanding delinquency data has been successfully transmitted to the Department of Taxation for collection. In FY04, the Fairfax County Circuit Court reported approximately $1.5 million in delinquent fines and fees. In FY05, only $468,000 in delinquent fines and fees were reported by the Fairfax County Circuit Court.

Trend Data for Assessments and Collections

• Court assessments have risen from nearly $199M in FY95 to nearly $439M in FY06.
• Court Clerks collected nearly $314M in FY95 compared to nearly $330M in FY06.
• The collection rate of Court Clerks has ranged from a low of 67 percent in FY01 to a high of 79 percent in FY98.
• Gross collections of delinquent fines and fees by Commonwealth’s Attorneys were over $10M in FY95 compared to over $58M in FY06.
• The collection rate of Commonwealth’s Attorneys has increased from 7 percent in FY95 to 62 percent in FY06.

Collection Agents

• In FY06, 14 collection agents contracted with Commonwealth’s Attorneys for the collection of delinquent fines and fees.
• Collection fees ranged from nearly 10 percent to 35 percent.
• Collection rates ranged from nearly 27 percent to nearly 92 percent.
• A private collection agent serving in Portsmouth had the lowest collection fee and the highest collection rate.

In-House Collection Programs

• In FY06, six localities had In-House Programs that assessed and collected delinquent fines and fees.
• Collection fees ranged from nearly 21 percent to over 35 percent.
• Collection rates ranged from over 36 percent to over 60 percent.
• Floyd County had the In-House Program with the highest collection rate.

Courts with Higher than Statewide Average Collection Rate

• The statewide average collection rate for all courts was 68 percent in FY03, 75 percent in FY04, 76 percent in FY05, and 75 percent in FY06.
• Fourteen Circuit Courts had a higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four consecutive years.
• All reporting courts in eight localities had a higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four consecutive fiscal years.
• All reporting courts in an additional nine localities had a higher than statewide average collection rate for three of the four previous fiscal years.