An error regarding overdue court fines and fees had dozens of
people rushing to the San Benito County Courthouse during the past
three days claiming their bills had been paid.
An error regarding overdue court fines and fees had dozens of people rushing to the San Benito County Courthouse during the past three days claiming their bills had been paid.
They brought cancelled checks and receipts stamped “paid in full” by the county as proof of payment.
“We are not 100-percent sure why the payments made weren’t posted to accounts,” said Court Executive Officer Alex Calvo. “If somebody has received a notice incorrectly, we will straighten it out as soon as possible.”
A total of 10,549 notices were sent during the weekend. Payments that were not properly posted in the county’s system reflected a balance due, which the court then assigned to GC Services, a Texas-based collection agency.
Calvo said the county is owed millions in outstanding court fines and fees and in November the Board of Supervisors approved a contract with GC Services to work with the local court to recover overdue payments from as far back as five years.
On behalf of her husband, Gail Delucchi waited in line to straighten out a “failure to pay” notice her husband received during the weekend.
“We paid this back in March 2000,” she said, worried it would go against their credit report.
What concerned most people were long-term repercussions. For example, failure to pay a traffic fine can result in a suspended license.
“What would have happened if this notice didn’t catch up with me?” said Kevin Brunner, who moved to Morgan Hill a few months ago.
Though Brunner paid his traffic fine in 2001, and had the documentation as proof, he was concerned that the wrong information in the system could have undesired consequences.
“I could have been pulled over and would have been driving on a suspended license,” he said.
Delucchi said her husband, Phil, is a crane operator who works statewide and needs his license for their livelihood.
“This is not funny,” she said.
The exact number of people affected by the glitch was difficult to pinpoint, Calvo said. As for long-term repercussions, he said the court would not turn over any information that would affect an individual’s credit reports or drivers license.
“We have to revamp the system, which is pretty labor intensive,” he said.
At first, Delucchi, along with most others, thought it was a scam.
“I was concerned if they were legitimate or not,” Delucchi said.
Niessa Guaracha also thought it was a scam.
“What is a company from Texas doing trying to collect money from me on something we already paid,” she said.
Alison Noble received a notice to pay $375 in delinquent fees for a $10 registration ticket.
“My father-in-law paid this ticket back in August 2000,” she said.
Calvo had one person pay a fine in 1985 who had also received a failure to pay notice. But since many of the tickets were paid more than 10 years ago, many people did not have their receipts.
“If they made a payment, there will be some sort of record on paper,” he said.
Calvo said when people pay a fine, the first step is to enter the payment on a paper ledger. From there is goes to the court accounting staff to enter into its system.
“That’s where we discovered the breakdown,” Calvo said. “This whole process went back a number of years and we are just discovering it because we went through this collection process.”
Staff members in the traffic division were busy attempting to answer questions while manually looking up records dating as far back as 1989.
Guaracha said her husband received the collection notice for an infraction for not wearing a seat belt.
“He remembered getting one a long time ago, but he paid it,” she said.
Guaracha was told by GC Services to call the main number in Texas in about one week to make sure it was off the books.
Calvo said they are still trying to determine how many of the 10,549 notices were incorrect. In the meantime, new notices will be sent informing people of the error.
Under the terms of the contract, GC Services receives 30 percent of the fees recovered from the collection program, which is collaboration between the county’s administrative office, the auditor’s office and the Superior Court.
GC Services operates similar programs in 25 other California counties and has operations across the country to collect fines, which enables it to track down residents who leave the state.
One other measure is also being taken. GC Services will have an 800 number installed for the problem.
“The customers we have been working with have been incredibly patient considering the circumstances they had to go through,” Calvo said.
Anyone who received a notice in error can call the courthouse at 637-9331.
