by Mike Lesko
Stow Sentry Associate Editor
Stow -- A second collection agency will be used by Stow Municipal Court, at no cost to the court, to help collect unpaid fines.
Lisa Zeno Carano, clerk of courts, said since 2006, the court has used a collection agency that has brought in more than $170,000.
There are about 4,000 cases in that collection agency now, she said, which are worth about $1 million.
"Speaking with clerks around the state, most use more than one agency," Carano said March 2. "It gives a little competition, and you may discover that one agency may use different strategies to collect past due money owed to the court. I don't think there is much to lose adding another agency."
Carano said neither collection agency will cost the court any money.
"All collection agencies are typically no cost contracts," she said. "They usually tack on a 25 percent to 30 percent fee of the money owed to the court. Once the defendant pays, the collection agency takes its fee off the top, and the rest is sent to us."
For example, she said if there is a $100 fine, a $30 collection fee would be added, so the total amount owed would be $130.
Carano said the new agency will complement the previous one. She added, though, that the same overdue accounts would not be sent to both collection agencies.
Carano said there have been instances when someone has moved out of state, then tried to rent an apartment or buy a car or a home.
"They could not do anything until that was paid," she said. "It pretty much messed up their credit."
Carano said the Stow Municipal Court judges have given people who owe fines plenty of time to make payment arrangements.
She said her office does not have the manpower to have its employees on the phone all day calling people to try to collect the money.
The Clerk of Courts Office of the Stow Municipal Court serves the following communities:
Boston Heights, Boston Township, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Macedonia, Munroe Falls, Northfield, Northfield Center Township, Peninsula, Reminderville, Sagamore Hills Township, Silver Lake, Stow, Tallmadge, Twinsburg and Twinsburg Township.
E-mail: mlesko@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3917