Post by backdoorit on Jan 10, 2012 17:04:27 GMT -5
Nassau's Traffic and Parking Violations Agency needs a new system to collect tens of millions in outstanding fines, county Comptroller George Maragos said Tuesday.
"The growing backlog of unpaid tickets is an urgent issue that requires more aggressive collection efforts," Maragos said in a release Tuesday about his audit of the system.
He praised improved agency actions after John Marks took it over in January 2010, but noted the huge loss of revenue, especially from the "rising number of unpaid red light camera fines."
The report said that at the end of 2010, the agency had $44 million in uncollected traffic violation fines dating back 10 years and another $26 million in parking violation fines over the past six years. Unpaid red light camera violations -- a system in effect since 2009 -- were at $10 million at the end of 2011. All of this was money county officials hoped would help with its budget crisis.
"Most concerning," said the report, is that unpaid red light camera tickets grew from 7,884 at the end of 2009 to 46,862 at the end of 2010 and were at 107,841 by the end of last year.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano thanked Maragos for his audit and its recognition of the agency's improvement efforts.
"Our residents deserve a fair and efficient system and that is what we intend to continue implementing," he said. "In the near future, our residents will see additional collection measures taken for those egregious offenders who have multiple unpaid tickets."
The Mangano administration had made a strong effort last year to collect penalties by offering an amnesty to parking violators with three or more outstanding tickets and no late payment fees. But that failed. Mangano said he had hoped to recoup as much as $21.7 million in unpaid tickets. Instead, when the four-month extended deadline ended Sept. 15, only $186,481 had been collected on 5,145 tickets.
Maragos' audit suggests the county do the following: Speed up the anticipated replacement of its computer system; demand that the red light camera vendor improve reporting of receivables, dismissals and collections; implement management review of cash receipt reconciliation errors; implement greater security for entrance into the agency employee areas to reduce the possibility of record tampering; and provide greater segregation of duties among employees to ensure that errors or irregularities are swiftly found and corrected.
"The growing backlog of unpaid tickets is an urgent issue that requires more aggressive collection efforts," Maragos said in a release Tuesday about his audit of the system.
He praised improved agency actions after John Marks took it over in January 2010, but noted the huge loss of revenue, especially from the "rising number of unpaid red light camera fines."
The report said that at the end of 2010, the agency had $44 million in uncollected traffic violation fines dating back 10 years and another $26 million in parking violation fines over the past six years. Unpaid red light camera violations -- a system in effect since 2009 -- were at $10 million at the end of 2011. All of this was money county officials hoped would help with its budget crisis.
"Most concerning," said the report, is that unpaid red light camera tickets grew from 7,884 at the end of 2009 to 46,862 at the end of 2010 and were at 107,841 by the end of last year.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano thanked Maragos for his audit and its recognition of the agency's improvement efforts.
"Our residents deserve a fair and efficient system and that is what we intend to continue implementing," he said. "In the near future, our residents will see additional collection measures taken for those egregious offenders who have multiple unpaid tickets."
The Mangano administration had made a strong effort last year to collect penalties by offering an amnesty to parking violators with three or more outstanding tickets and no late payment fees. But that failed. Mangano said he had hoped to recoup as much as $21.7 million in unpaid tickets. Instead, when the four-month extended deadline ended Sept. 15, only $186,481 had been collected on 5,145 tickets.
Maragos' audit suggests the county do the following: Speed up the anticipated replacement of its computer system; demand that the red light camera vendor improve reporting of receivables, dismissals and collections; implement management review of cash receipt reconciliation errors; implement greater security for entrance into the agency employee areas to reduce the possibility of record tampering; and provide greater segregation of duties among employees to ensure that errors or irregularities are swiftly found and corrected.
