When it comes to collecting delinquent court fees, Albemarle County Commonwealth Attorney Denise Lunsford recently found it might be more rewarding to do it yourself.
"As far as I know, the Office of the Albemarle Commonwealth Attorney has always elected to have collections enforced by the Department of Taxation, which resulted in all of the funds collected going to the state," she said in a recent press release.
Not anymore. Where the state formerly enforced court fee collections, Albemarle County will take over as of July 1—a move that will generate an estimated $200,000 for the county, and offset cuts to the county office of the Commonwealth Attorney.
In the adopted budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011, state funding of the office dropped to $412,841—a decrease of more than $77,000, or 15.7 percent, from the previous year’s adopted budget. The county will also reap the benefits of a 35 percent "collection fee" that the local Commonwealth Attorney’s office may find a different pocket for in future fiscal years.