You can park, but you cannot hide

In the first month, the collection service paid for itself, the clerk says.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- You can begin now to regret the times you ripped and tossed the parking tickets stuck under the windshield wiper of your car.
Regret should also kick in now if you're among those who didn't toss -- but "forgot" to pay -- your tickets.
Clerk of Court Sarah Brown-Clark, working with a Boardman-based company called LightGov, is tracking you down.
Until you pay, she has the power, granted by three municipal court judges, to essentially freeze you out at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles with warrant blocks.
The blocks mean you can't renew your driver's license or license plates or transfer title to the car. Sure, you can still buy a new car, but you can't register it, Brown-Clark said.
Warrant blocks began in September for those owing old parking fines. Effective Nov. 1, blocks will be applied to those who owe past-due fines on criminal and traffic cases in municipal court, Brown-Clark said.
LightGov, which sends letters warning scofflaws to pay or face warrant blocks, is proving to be "a most effective means of collecting delinquent funds," Brown-Clark said. "LightGov paid for itself the first month."
Background
LightGov was founded in April 2000 by David Engler, former Mahoning County commissioner, to provide a variety of services to government. Engler serves as its chief executive officer.
"All I know, it's working," Brown-Clark said. "This money we collect goes to the general fund and provides services for city residents, such as fire, police and street."
For $15,000, LightGov set up the software technology required to contact those who owe parking fines. In September, when payments were due after the first LightGov mass mailing, the city collected $26,790 as a result of the new program, Brown-Clark said.
In all, the clerk's office collected $39,801 in parking fines in September. By contrast, in September 2002, the office took in only $11,840 in parking fines, Brown-Clark said.
"You would not believe the activity at the counter with people coming in to pay their parking fines," the clerk of court said. "The letters sent out warn people of the consequences for not paying."
After 10 days, a $10 parking fine increases to $20. After 30 days, it jumps to $30. Tickets not paid in 60 days are submitted to LightGov for collection, said Denise Warren, supervisor of parking tickets.
Warren couldn't guess how much is owed the city, but she said a performance audit commissioned when Brown-Clark took office in 2000 estimated nearly $1 million was past-due. Warren said she has tickets dating back to 1995.
What's ahead
Brown-Clark said she tried LightGov as an experiment because the current collection system is not conducive to sending delinquent notices by mail. "What we have now is postcards. That's a lot of hand work and so time consuming."
Brown-Clark said LightGov's contract, which nets it a $10 fee for each ticket paid, expires Dec. 31. She's going to assess the features of her office's new computer system, due in January, before deciding whether to continue using LightGov.
"We'll see what it will cost to continue with LightGov," Brown-Clark said. "Even with our new computer system, LightGov has more 'hands' to do the work."
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;meade@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;