The office of the Boone County Attorney and the Board of Supervisors began the Fines Recovery/Driver's License Reinstatement Program in February of 2010.
According to County Attorney Jim Robbins, since then, that program has collected over $325,000 in fines, court costs, restitution and jail fees. Those funds went to victims of crimes, the State of Iowa, Boone County and city government.
"One of the concerns was to make sure the program was cost effective," said Robbins. "For fiscal year 2011-2012 I have calculated that the cost of the program, which includes payment to a full-time employee and one-half of the secretarial position to be approximately $44,000. During fiscal year 2011-12 we collected $180,134 under the payment plan collections and $16,886 under the driver's license reinstatement program for a total of $107,020. From that, Boone County received the following:
* 40% incentive (Boone County) $51,027
* 12% to County Attorney, 3,298
* Jail fees to sheriff, 10,708
for a total of $65,035.
Figures show that year, the program paid to Boone County $21,000 more than it cost to fund it.
Robbins says now that the collection program has a full-time person (Don Anderson) he expects it will continue to pay Boone County more than it cost to run. |
