RD413 - Compensation Board FY08 Fines and Fees Report - December 1, 2008


Executive Summary:
Court Clerks

• In FY08, Court Clerks assessed $489.8M and collected $381.3M in fines and fees.
• The collection rate for Court Clerks was 77.9 percent.
• Collections between FY07 and FY08 increased by $35.7M (10.3 percent) and the collection rate increased 4.0 percentage points.

Commonwealth’s Attorneys

• In FY08, net assessments of delinquent fines and fees by Commonwealth’s Attorneys were $119.2M.
• Gross collections for Commonwealth’s Attorneys were $60.6M.
• Net collections in FY08 were $47.8M.
• The collection rate was 50.8 percent.
• Net collections between FY07 and FY08 increased $2.4M (5.33 percent); however, the collection rate decreased (5.8) percentage points.

Trend Data for Assessments and Collections

• Court assessments have risen from $199M in FY95 to $489.8M in FY08.
• Court Clerks collected nearly $134M in FY95 compared to $381.3M in FY08.
• 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 $60.6M in FY08.
• The collection rate of Commonwealth’s Attorneys has ranged from a low of 7 percent in FY95 to 60 percent in FY05 and FY06.

Collection Agents

• In FY08, nine private collection agents, one city and one state agency contracted with Commonwealth’s Attorneys for the collection of delinquent fines and fees.
• Collection fee percentages ranged from 17 percent to 35 percent.
• Collection rates ranged from 32.2 percent to 62.8 percent.

In-House Collection Programs

• In FY08, six localities had In-House Programs that assessed and collected delinquent fines and fees.
• Collection fee percentages ranged from 25.6 percent (Danville) to 35.0 percent (Botetourt, Montgomery, and Roanoke City).
• Collection rates ranged from 31.0 percent (Danville) to 44.7 percent (Roanoke City).
• Collection cost percentages ranged from 0.75 percent (Botetourt) to 12.6 percent (Danville).

Court Clerks’ Statewide Average Collection Rate

• The statewide average collection rate for all courts was 76.0 percent in FY05, 75.1 percent in FY06, 73.9 percent in FY07, and 77.9 percent in FY08.
• Twelve Circuit Courts had an equal or higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four fiscal years.
• All reporting courts in eight localities had an equal or higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four fiscal years.
• All reporting courts in an additional six localities had a higher than statewide average collection rate for three of the four previous fiscal years.

Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Statewide Average Collection Rate

• The statewide average collection rate for collection agents was 59.6 percent in FY05, 61.6 percent in FY06, 56.6 percent in FY07, and 50.8 percent in FY08.
• Eight Circuit Courts had a higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four years.
• All reporting courts in two localities had an equal or higher than statewide average collection rate for the past four fiscal years.
• All reporting courts in four localities had an equal or higher than statewide average collection rate for three of the four previous fiscal years.

Exposure Draft Comments
In response to the FY08 Fines & Fees Report Exposure Draft, comments were received from one of the private collection agents used by numerous Commonwealth Attorneys. These comments question much of the reported data and will require a thorough analysis to address each concern.

As stated in the “Purpose of Fines and Fees Reporting” Section of this report, the data for the report is supplied by numerous sources, to include the Supreme Court of Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorneys and the Fairfax County Circuit Court. As such, the Compensation Board relies on the accuracy of the supplied data. However, under the “Improving the Collection of Fines and Fees” Section of this report, the Compensation Board identifies as an FY09 action the formation of a committee of Clerks, Commonwealth’s Attorneys (including private collection agents), the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the Department of Taxation to review and improve the reporting of fines and fees assessment and collection data. This committee will include in its review the questions raised by the private collection agent in response to the exposure draft.

A summary of some of the questions raised and potential agenda items for the committee are included as Appendix 7 in this report.