Schuylkill Follows Statewide Trend In Boosting Court Collections

Pennsylvania courts collected a record amount of money in 2010from defendants, according to the state Supreme Court.

Schuylkill County contributed to that effort, with collections offines, costs and restitution increasing by almost $130,000 from2009, county Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach Jr. said.

Lukach said his office took in $2,180,048.50 in 2010, as comparedto $2,051,609.68, an increase of $128,438.82 in a year that saw aneconomic downturn.

Lukach attributed the growth at least in part to making it easierto pay those amounts.

"We've been taking credit card payments over the phone," he said."We've also been taking e-payments. We take payments through theInternet."

As a result, he said, people do not have to come to theSchuylkill County Courthouse in order to pay the fines, costs andrestitution they owe in criminal cases.

Other county courts across the state have matched Schuylkill'ssuccess, according to Steve Schell, communications coordinator forthe Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

"Courts are just doing a better job at collecting," he said."They're increasing while (case) filings are decreasing."

Statewide, county courts collected $479,996,802.24 in 2010, anincrease from the $460,891,367.11 collected in 2009, according tothe AOPC.

Schell said acceptance of credit cards "certainly does" helpcollection rates across the state as much as it has helpedSchuylkill's rate.

"They are in every common pleas (county) court, and magisterialdistrict courts in 49 counties," he said. Schuylkill County's sevenmagisterial district courts will begin accepting credit cards forpayments on May 23, Schell said.

Schell also said the statewide Common Pleas Case ManagementSystem, which has a record of every criminal case in each ofPennsylvania's 67 counties, also has helped increase collections.

"What we're seeing across the state is that they're using thesystem," Schell said. "Clerks offices are working together."

County Chief Probation Officer John Richmond said his staff alsotries to boost such collections from the people they supervise.

"Unfortunately, it's become a priority. Collection activitieshave become a part of the officers' duties," he said. "We enforcethe court's orders."

County Victim Witness Coordinator Irene M. Docherty saidreceiving restitution is particularly important to crime victims.

"Every day, I get phone calls on that," she said. "It's extremelyimportant because in some cases, that's all they really want.Victims want to get paid first."

Unfortunately for them, that is not possible, Richmond said.

"There's a disbursement order" set by state Supreme Court rules,he said. "(Restitution) doesn't take a back seat."