If you owe, he'll know
Flathead High School senior Cory Ravetto, entering data from criminal files, has spent the month updating Justice Court records for the county. His work will allow the county to collect as much as $200,000 in unpaid fines. Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake
Flathead High School senior is updating Justice Court backlog of unpaid fines
Residents who owe fines and restitution from the past dozen years in Justice Court will receive letters from collection agencies saying it's time to pay up.
Justice of the Peace David Ortley said there may be as much as $200,000 in collectable fines out there.
"A lot of people have avoided paying fines because of our antiquated [records] system. Those days are over," Ortley said.
Two things led to the change.
Four years ago, the effort began to automate records at courts like Ortley's statewide. Flathead County joined the system last May. Before that, the court operated on handwritten ledger cards in a manual system.
When the court started using the computer system, workers input data from the six months prior to the change. But the volume of cases going through the court keeps employees too occupied with keeping records current to spare their time on a huge backlog of unpaid fines.
That's where Cory Ravetto came in.
This month, the 18-year-old senior at Flathead High School started entering information on all those neglected fines, the oldest of which dates to 1994, he said.
Each case has tweaks and turns that made the process not as rote and speedy as it seemed it might be.
Ortley said those old debts will be turned over to local collection agencies. They will have the authority to garnishee wages or seize tax returns for people who don't cooperate.
"You can no longer ignore your obligation," Ortley said.
Money collected will go first to restitution to victims if that was ordered by the court, then to the surcharges used to fund court operations, and then to the fines.
Ortley said the court will continue to work with people to help set up a payment plan if necessary. Community service and other alternatives are possible, too. But continuing to ignore the fines no longer will work.
Ortley said he's grateful to Ravetto, who has spent 130 hours on the project. He volunteered for the project. Ortley said he'd like to pay Ravetto a stipend from the court's contracted service budget for his work.
It is "a tremendous benefit to the county," Ortley said.