ACTIVE COLLECTION EFFORTS

In 2016, a significant change in direction and vision was undertaken. Recognizing the fact that the POA department has little to no control over charging volume, considerable efforts and resources were redirected towards implementing an active and aggressive collection model and procedures. These included an increased focus on adding fines to municipal taxes, garnishment of wages and the use of additional collection agencies to the operating mix. These robust collection efforts continued into 2019. The results of these efforts are summarized in the following sub-sections below.

Municipal Tax Rolling

Under Section 441.1 of the Municipal Act, 2001, a local municipality is permitted to add any part of a fine for a commission of a provincial offence that is in default under section 69 of the Provincial Offences Act to the tax roll for any property in the local municipality for which all of the owners are responsible for paying the fine. Accordingly, a Defaulted Fine can only be added if the offender in default is the sole owner of the property. The Defaulted Fine is collected in the same manner as municipal taxes at the request of a municipality.

The tax roll process continues to be a supplementary collection tool to utilize in 2019. An additional 14 accounts were added in 2019 and we continue to accumulate funds through this method of collection.

Garnishment of Wages

The process of finding where an offender is employed is one of the most challenging tasks due to the limited amount of information that is available to our staff. In many cases the offenders are either unemployed, working for cash, or on some form of assistance which cannot be garnished. However when employment is confirmed and the garnishment documents are in place, it becomes one of the most effective enforcement tools. In early 2016, changes were made to our collection processes with the expansion of research capabilities and methods. In 2019, there were 130 new garnishments issued. We also collected $315,087 in revenue from garnishments. The Fines and Enforcement staff will continue to focus on further enhancing these efforts in years to come.

3rd Party Collections

On January 1, 2016 changes to our 3rd party collection process was also made. As a result of an RFP issued in late 2015 three new collection agencies (CBV, ARO and Gatestone) were procured. Table D-1 summarizes the year over year results.