DC May Hire Collection Agencies to Track Down $1 billion in Old Fines

The District of Columbia is getting serious about collecting the estimated $1 billion owed from various tickets and violations from the past few decades, according to The Washington Examiner.

D.C. Council Chair Mary Cheh has proposed hiring third party debt collectors and creating a centralized collection office in a new piece of legislation, the Delinquent Debt Recovery Act. The Act would give authority to both government and private collectors to go after residents in adjacent jurisdictions, like Maryland and Virginia, who owe money to the city of Washington. It would also allow contracted collection agencies to add their fees to the fines.

D.C. officials estimate that the city is owed some $300 million in parking fines alone from just the past seven years.

The city does not currently have a centralized collection unit, instead relying on individual departments to handle their own collections. Officials from Maryland’s Central Collection Unit will be helping the District set up their office should the legislation pass the D.C. Council.