Collections agency boosts Indiana parking ticket revenue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Parking scofflaws in Bloomington have a new incentive to pay their tickets on time.

The city this year started sending tickets that have gone unpaid for 30 days to a collections agency in an effort to boost revenue and improve efficiency. So far, the agency has brought in nearly $80,000. That’s an increase of almost $26,000 from the first seven months of 2011.

City officials tell The Herald-Times (http://bit.ly/NmJdQ5 ) the new system allows Capital Recovery Systems to pursue an unlimited number of unpaid tickets. The city was limited to filing 50 claims a week under the old system that required its legal department to pursue violators through court.

The city gets the amount of the fine. Capital Recovery Systems charges violators a fee of 30 percent of the ticket.