Local Government Collections with the AGO 2019 The

Local Government Collections with the AGO 2019

The Start of Something Good… • 2008 Lucas County pilot program; • Collected criminal court costs; • Goal = to ease financial burdens of struggling political subdivisions; • Program’s success led to legislative change;

Authority for Collection • Pursuant to a change to O. R. C. § 131. 02, the Attorney General’s Office can collect past due debt on behalf of political subdivisions which chose to participate; • This is the same statute used to collect

What is a Political Subdivision? • Pursuant to O. R. C. § 2744. 01(F), a political subdivision is defined as “a municipal corporation, township, county, school district, or other body corporate and politic responsible for governmental activities in a geographic area smaller than that of the state. ”

Legal Points • The AGO steps into “your shoes” when collecting; • The AG offers our statutory offset program, but otherwise we are bound to your statutory ability to collect the debt; • We are limited in our ability to provide legal advice on accounts or other issues

Who Are Our Clients? • We currently have over 250 local government clients in addition to the 400+ state government clients for which we collect; • Local Government Clients include County Clerks, County Treasurers, Cities, Townships, Villages, County Career Centers;

General Information • The program is completely voluntary; • A contract must be signed along with an ACH form, and questionnaire regarding the type of debt & options for collections; • There is no specific end date to the contract. Both parties have the ability to opt out by giving the other at least 45 days notice of cancellation;

Who Needs to Sign? • Depends on the client, but whomever has the legal authority to enter into a contract for the political subdivision; • Mayors, Clerks, Treasurers, Fire Chiefs, Police Chiefs, City Council – check with your legal counsel; • Once the documents are completed, they can be emailed or faxed back to the AGO; • An executed copy will be mailed to you for your records;

Do I Need an Ordinance? • Depends on your by-laws; • Some clients do have city council pass an ordinance authorizing the AGO to collect; • Confirm with your legal counsel on what is required to enter into the AGO collections contract;

What Types of Debt Are Collected? • • Municipal Taxes Court Costs, Fines, Fees, Restitution Traffic Tickets (but no red light cameras) EMS Debts Tuition owed to County Career Centers Property damage fees Fees owed for building use

Exceptions to Collection • • • Debt that is not final or under appeal; Debt that is under $100 Debt owed by an incarcerated debtor; Debt owed by a juvenile; Debt involved in a bankruptcy, foreclosure or insolvency proceeding; • Rent, utility or code enforcement;

Miscellaneous Exception • AGO fully reserves the right to exclude any type of LGC debt it will collect as necessary based on quantity, value and debt type;

What If I Didn’t Know? • AGO advises clients of bankruptcies that are found while collecting & accounts are cancelled; • Accounts are cancelled if debtor is found to be incarcerated; • Accounts are cancelled if debtor is found to be deceased; • Client will be contacted if the debtor is found to be a minor;

How Much Does This Cost? • NOTHING! • All collection costs are passed on to the debtor; • If we don’t collect, we don’t get paid: • AGO in-house collection costs = 10% • Third Party Vendor collection costs = 21% • Special Counsel collection costs = 25%

You Have Choices • You choose how long you want us to collect before the account is written off in our system; • You choose if interest should be added to the debt at the current State of Ohio statutory rate; • You choose how interest can be waived; • You choose whether to utilize 3 rd party vendors and/or special counsel for collections;

How are Vendors and Counsel Chosen? • AGO has counsel and vendors apply through request for proposal process approximately every two years; • Their prior collection history is analyzed; • Only certain vendors collect LGC debt & accounts are assigned at random; • Currently, Celco and First Credit are the 3 rd Party Vendors assigned to collect LGC debt; • There are several counsel in each region of the state to collect;

How Are My Debts Collected? • All accounts are collected in-house for at least 180 days; • Collection letters are mailed upon certification and then again 45 days later; • Collection calls are attempted; • Accounts are skip-traced for updated contact information; • Accounts assigned per contract;

Offsets • AGO can offset state tax refunds, lottery and racino winnings, which can increase the odds of collection; • We just need the debtor’s SSN, but will attempt to find the SSN if it is not provided; • Offsets still occur when an account is assigned to a vendor or counsel;

How Am I Paid? • Funds collected are transferred via ACH; • Deposits typically occur each Friday; • You will have access to Compass, which is a website that provides payment reports; • Payment reports are available for 2 years;

How Are AGO Fees Paid? • Fees are taken out of each payment made until the costs are paid in full; • No bills are sent to you; • AGO pays vendors and special counsel directly from amounts collected;

How Can Debtors Pay? • By mail (Key Bank Lockbox in Cleveland) • By phone 888 -871 -8838 • Online www. ohioattorneygeneral. gov & then select Wallet Icon- Pay online • At an AGO office: Columbus, Youngstown, Cleveland, Toledo, or Cincinnati • Cash is not accepted from any walk-in! Only personal/certified checks or money orders accepted.

Payment Options • Pay the entire amount in full; • Payment Plan- financials may be requested from the debtor; • Settlement with authority from client; • Offsets;

What If I Receive a Payment? • Email Jennifer Zap to advise the amount • Put the AG account number on the check • Mail the check to: Ohio Attorney General PO Box 89471 Cleveland, OH 44101 *Be cautious in providing paid in full receipts to debtors –did the taxpayer include all collection costs owed? *Accepting payments should be the exception – we prefer you refer the taxpayer to our office for payment;

Settlements • Settlement offers will be presented to you with the amount of the offer and how long the debtor needs to pay; • You advise whether the offer is accepted, declined or if there is a counter-offer; • AGO cancels the balance once the

How Do I Send a File to the AGO? • All files are sent via FTPS or Filezilla; • This is a secure way to transfer information; • Usernames and passwords are provided after IT forms are completed; • AGO Operations can assist you with loading files and Filezilla questions;

Sending Accounts…Oh My! • You are provided a spreadsheet to input the requested account information; • Information requested is the debtor’s name, address, phone number, SSN, date of birth, amount owed, description of debt, your account number or case number, etc. ; • Provide as much information as possible but if you don’t have the information, leave that field blank;

BIRT MIDD LE CLIE CRN H LAST FIRST NT IDSSN CRN DRL 2 DATE NAME 2 D 1 D 20 D 11 D 29 F 11 D 9 D 2. 1 D 2. 2 ADDR 1 D 3. 1 ADDR 2 D 3. 2

How Long Does It Take? • A minimum of a few weeks from start to finish; • You set the pace; • If you need to get legislative approval, that can add time to the process;

How Often Do I Certify? • There is no minimum or maximum; • You can certify accounts to the AGO daily, weekly, monthly, twice a year, once a year, etc. ; • You decide how many accounts you send at one time from 1 account to thousands at a time;

Updates to Accounts • Email us with any updates which may include new addresses, updated amounts, debtor is incarcerated, debtor is deceased, debtor’s employment, etc. ; • Email us if you need an account cancelled for any reason;

Legal Holds • Notes are placed on accounts that have a license hold or a warrant block; • Clients are notified via email if a payment in full is processed by the AGO so that a hold may be released; • Debtors are advised that it may take at least 24 hours. Some clients may take a week or more;

Liens • Some clients file liens against debtors prior to certification; • We ask that you notify us at certification if a debtor has a judgment and/or lien for the debt being certified; • Client is responsible for releasing liens after payment in full; • AGO does not file statutory liens for LGC debt. Judicial liens only available if judgment granted in a lawsuit filed by AGO/special counsel.

Can I Monitor Accounts at the AGO? • Clients are given access to a website called Client View; • Accounts can be searched by name, your account/case number, SSN, etc. ; • You can view the balance on the account, notes on the account, payments, etc. ;

Accounting Questions • Reversals of payment due to NSF will show as a negative on a future payment report; • The AGO attempts to avoid NSFs by holding off for up to 10 days to pay a client when a debtor has paid via personal check or ACH; • Feel free to call if you see a reversal for details;

Accounting Questions • Overpayments happen occasionally; • We request that your office refund the entire amount of any overpayment to the debtor • This is the only way the AGO can refund the collection costs back to the debtor; • Please do not send the overpayment back to AGO. We will not take it out of your account either. • The overpaid amount will be deducted from a future payment sent to you;

Collection Stats • Collections on LGC accounts has increased over $2 million since last year and continues to grow; • Statistics of collection for each client vary depending on how much collection was done prior to certification, demographics, and the age of the debt;

Questions?

How to contact us? Jennifer Zap, Assistant Attorney General & LGC Collections Manager Jennifer. Zap@ohioattorneygeneral. gov 330 -884 -7519 Dawna Toth, Supervisor Dawna. Toth@ohioattorneygeneral. gov 330 -884 -6265