Champaign County Collecting Too

Champaign county just created a new position to handle its problem with outstanding court costs. The job is solely for contacting people with unpaid fees, fines and traffic tickets. Some of the cases date back more than 30-years. And the total here is in the millions. "Roughly 36 million dollars in unpaid fees and fines stemming from the early 70s to now," says Brett Lemons, the man doing the collecting for the county. "That 36 million dollars is restitution to people to people whose windows were broken whose cars were damaged whose stereos were taken. It's money that people owe to the county to repay their debts." The champaign county board approved this new position on a trial basis to see if it would make money. Lemons says it has. In fact, he's collected more than $6,000 in just a week. Lemons says some of that money goes to pay for programs like Crimestoppers, and some goes back into the county's general fund.