Government : County Attorney's Office makes collections one of their Priorities

At a January Supervisor meeting, Benton County Attorney David Thompson, gave a report to the Supervisors updating them on the progress his office has made in the area of debt collections.

If you are like I am, you just assumed that the county attorney just dealt with the criminal aspect of the population, prosecuting the bad guys, representing law enforcement and representing the county when needed in court. What most don't realize is that the office employs two full-time employees to recover debt incurred by those who have been fined by the courts resulting in judgments, served time in jail, or owe debt through restitution.

Thompson's office not only collects for Benton County but also for Bremer, Tama and Buchanan counties as well. It is believed that Benton County is the only county that provides this service for this number of counties in the state of Iowa.

Thompson explained that the program used by County Attorneys in the state to collect debt only results in the office keeping 5% of what they collect. These funds then go toward salaries for those who collect the debt and other office expenses. (The 5% only kicks in after the office collects $50,000 in the fiscal year) Benton County then gets to keep 28% of the collected fees from the county and the remainder goes to the State of Iowa. Benton County places their money back into the general fund.

Court debt, Thompson explained, is the largest portion of what the office collects. Collection of room and board for the jail is another part of their job. Inmates must pay a $50 per day fee for room and board. Thompson said that typically, this brings in $180,000 per year to the county, and believes that the county will still be on target for that amount this year. Jail debt collection has dipped a little bit as a result of fewer people serving their jail time during the COVID jail restrictions. The county has given extensions for those who need to schedule jail time to control the traffic in the jail during the pandemic. Since the jail began charging room and board in 2012, the fee has brought in over a quarter of a million dollars.

Collections are down about 10% in Benton County, but up by quite a bit, Thompson said in a couple of the other counties.

Since the office began the Court Debt Collection in September of 2011, as of the end of December 2020, for Benton County alone, Thompson's office has collected over 2.2 million dollars. In total, the office has collected $4.5 million dollars for all 4 counties. Thompson shared that $309,000 has also been collected in restitution payments on behalf of the victims of crimes and is owed to them according to the courts.

The office can garnish wages, but they try to come up with a payment plan to work with those that need to pay their debt. Thompson said that the office only uses garnishment if there is no response to their attempts at collecting.

Deb Fleming who works in the Collections Department also wanted to remind citizens that if your license has been suspended because of unpaid fines, court fees, etc., it IS possible to get your license back. You simply need to contact the office of collections to set up a payment plan. They can then work with you to get your license reinstated. Simply contact Deb or Ed at 319-472-2422. For more information click here.

It's obvious, at least in Benton County, that crime doesn't pay.