WHEATON, IL - DuPage County Clerk of the Circuit Court today announced a major expansion of his office's compliance program designed to track and collect unpaid court fines. The expanded program will be conducted in conjunction with the DuPage County State's Attorney's office, and targets an estimated $20 million in unpaid judgments. It takes advantage of a recent change in Illinois law empowering the Circuit Court Clerk's office to more actively seek fine collection.



"While the vast majority of people who are fined by our court system pay their debts, a growing number believe they can simply ignore court orders and shirk their responsibilities," Kachiroubas said. "In recent years, that problem has skyrocketed to the point where tens of millions of dollars are owed to DuPage County taxpayers. Joe Birkett and I think its time to send a clear message to scofflaws that the sentence they received from the Court is not optional. They must pay their debts to the taxpayers of this county."
Last year, Kachiroubas initiated the Clerk's office first-ever Compliance Unit headed up by Bill Maio. That initiative was designed to not only seek compliance with Court orders, but also to serve as a pilot project for larger-scale collections. Since then, Maio has collected more than $750,000 in overdue fines and judgments and returned those funds to general revenue coffers, thereby leading to today's announcement of the program's expansion.



Two specialized collection firms have been retained by the Circuit Court Clerk's and State's Attorney's offices to commence the expanded compliance program.



AllianceOne, an international collections firm with offices in Illinois; and
Harris & Harris, a collection firm headquartered in Chicago.

Both companies will be compensated based solely on a percentage of funds collected and placed in county coffers.



While Kachiroubas announced early in his term that he would actively seek unpaid fines, the passage of a new law that took affect last year finally gave his office the legal ability to more comprehensively coordinate the effort. He had previously implemented a pilot program to test the initiative, as well as introducing the ability to use credit cards when fines are imposed to increase quick compliance.



Kachiroubas praised DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett for his role in the initiative to collect past unpaid fines.



"Joe Birkett shares my view that the decisions our Courts make in imposing fines must be respected," Kachiroubas said. "We both feel that this program could bring millions of dollars into the County that will help take the pressure off property tax increases for DuPage residents."



Kachiroubas further stated that the program will be review annually to assure its viability and effectiveness.



The Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court is a Constitutional Office. While the Clerk is elected on a County wide basis, it is a non-judicial office of the Judicial Branch of State government. The duties are set forth by Statute, Rules of the Supreme Court and Administrative Orders of the local Circuit Court. The Circuit Court, under the Illinois Constitution, is the trial level court. It handles every type of case from a parking ticket to a murder case, from Small Claims to a multi-million dollar personal injury suit, and from adoption to the probate of an estate. Currently, DuPage County, the second largest courts system in the state, has fifteen (15) Circuit Judges and twenty-six (26) associates. The Circuit Court Clerk's Office accepts over 320,000 new case filings each year which are heard in the designated court rooms at the Judicial Center and at five satellite locations.