Youngstown’s Business Journal Daily highlights the important work of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in assisting local governments with their debt collection:

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 understands that local government have been hit hard by the economic downturn and need tools to more effectively collect on the debts owed to them.  This new office offers them another tool while adding jobs to the Youngstown area.

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.

Attorney General Mike DeWine continues to provide the leadership that Ohio needs.  The reward is a more efficient and effective government for all Ohioans.