Business Journal Daily

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Help has arrived for municipal and county governments of Ohio with problems collecting what's owed them.

Attorney General Mike DeWine is launching a program that targets those in arrears $100 and more to governments and state courts, whether taxes or fines and court costs. It will be operated out of his regional office in 20 Federal Place, he said Tuesday.

"If a local community or a local clerk of courts has a debt they have not been able to collect, they can ship it to us. And we will go collect it for them," DeWine said. Debts can be anything from overdue municipal trash bills to overdue water bills, he said.

DeWine announced the Local Government Collections Services Program in 20 Federal Place, downtown, where five employees will be added later this year to the staff of 34.

Even more will be added if needed. "Depends on how fast the work comes in," the attorney general explained.

DeWine anticipates a slow beginning for the program. Regardless, no matter how much business is sent the office, he promised its operations will remain here.

The office of the attorney general has experience collecting debt owed the state treasury but, thanks to a change in state law, can extend that pursuit of deadbeats to help counties, cities, townships and villages that lack the resources because of they lack the budget or other constraints.

"The state attorney general has never in the past collected for a local jurisdiction, so this is something new to the local clerks of courts, to the mayors," DeWine said. "It will take them a while to become used to it and to decide they do in fact want us to the do the collection."

Local governments that want help from the attorney general's office must ask to take part in the program and all costs of collecting their debts -- projected at 10% of amounts outstanding -- will be assessed the debtors to avoid burdening Ohio taxpayers.

Some municipalities have expressed their interest to the DeWine's office, he said.

"We've already started receiving some inquiries and we've got some debt we're starting to collect for some of the local jurisdictions," DeWine commented.

One advantage to local governments that participate is the ability to collect from a deadbeat's state income tax refund or Ohio lottery winnings.

How local governments collect debt is similar to how the state collects overdue debt. It begins with a phone call to the debtor.

"The first few months we try to collect in-house with our collectors on the phone calling people to work things out," DeWine explained.