The Iowa Department of Revenue is coming through with an unprecedented offer to forgive approximately $150 million in court debts for as many as 217,000 eligible people throughout the state.
The Iowa Court Debt Amnesty program is the first of its kind in Iowa. It was birthed from the General Assembly's last legislative session. The bill - SF2383 - gives the IDR the authority to begin collecting court debts starting Sept. 1. They must be postmarked by Nov. 30.
In other words, those who owe court fines and fees have three months to get half of their debts paid in order for the other half to be forgiven by the state.
However, for some Iowans, the deal is too good to be true. Some of the indebted are not eligible, according to the rules of the Senate file.
The debts not included are:
Victim restitution
Child support
Alimony
Sheriff fees
City or county fines
Room and board fees
Department of Transportation reinstatement fees and civil penalties
Debts owed by people currently incarcerated, on parole or on probation
All debts occurring prior to Dec. 1, 2006
For people who are eligible, IDR spokesman Roger Stirler said the state will likely have more problems tracking the debtors down than the indebted will have coming up with their half of the money in three months. He said the average amount individuals owe is $1,400; they would be required to pay only $700 of that.
"We're trying to reach everyone we can, but some of these addresses are pretty old," Stirler said. "The bill states they have to pay their half in one lump sum, but we'll try to work with people. We'll hold partial payments if someone sends them to us, but we'll also make sure they know they have more to pay on it or they won't be eligible."
He said the IDR office has already fielded several calls in the first 24 hours of the program's implementation, and most of the letters have yet to be sent out.
Due to the age of most of the debts, Stirler admitted no one is certain how successful the collection attempts will be; but if collected, he said, "it's almost a bonus to the state."
Contact Amber Williams at (515) 573-2141 or awilliams@messengernews.net