Yolo County may be missing out on nearly 80 percent of the fees that are charged to the county’s probationers, the result of a “broken” collection services system, according to a grand jury report released last week.
The report also concluded that, due to insufficient staff, lack of training and poor communication, a significant number of billing statements go undelivered each month due to incorrect or outdated mailing addresses. Many of the probationers who do receive their bills find them difficult to understand.
“The billing statements are not clear and often contain confusing, incomplete or incorrect information as to how much probationers owe and what the amounts represent,” the report says.
Chief Probation Officer Brent Cardall said Tuesday his department already has taken steps to improve training and implement new computer software to better track probationers’ addresses.
Still, fee collections will remain challenging as long as there are probationers who are homeless, unemployed or on the lam, among other disadvantages.
“We’ll never collect 100 percent, but if we collect 50 percent, that would be phenomenal,” Cardall said. “We’re going to do our best to make sure we help our clients succeed.”
Information provided to the grand jury showed that during the 2013-14 fiscal year, Yolo County collected just $209,000 of the $946,000 billed to probationers — about 22 percent, according to the report, though Cardall said that figure has not yet been verified.
The grand jury began investigating the collections process after receiving a citizen’s complaint about the probation billing statements, which charges those on formal probation for items such as court penalties, restitution fines, public defender services and drug program fees.
Two agencies share responsibilities when it comes to the billing statements: Yolo County Collection Services, which bills and collects payments for the courts and county departments; and the Yolo County Probation Department, which supervises probationers to ensure that they satisfy their conduct requirements.
But interviews the grand jury conducted with past and current employees of both departments — from clerical staff to department heads — revealed shortfalls in the billing process, including the Probation Department’s lack of a routine process for updating probationers’ addresses with YCCS.
The agencies also use different accounting and collection systems, and no regular statistical reports are generated due to staff turnover and a lack of resources, according to the grand jury report. As of 2013, YCCS had six revenue collection employees, down from six in 2006. The Probation Department has experienced turnover as well.
Cardall, the probation chief, said he became aware of the fee collection problems shortly after his hiring in 2013, but the local impacts of AB 109, the prison realignment measure, and later Proposition 47, which reduced certain crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, demanded much of the department’s time and attention.
Now, newly hired probation officers are being trained to educate their clients about the collections process “and make sure they know what they need to do,” Cardall said. Efforts also will be made to make the bills more accurate and understandable.
Among the grand jury’s recommendations for Yolo County’s chief financial and probation officers:
* Modify the probationer monthly billing statement so that fees are identified and fully explained;
* Create a unified business process diagram of the probation fee generation and collection process;
* Establish protocols for improved communication between YCCS and the Probation Department, including regular meetings, joint training and shared access to information;
* Create and publish quarterly reports indicating fees billed and collected, outstanding balances and amounts in delinquency; and
* Implement single accounting and collection software system to facilitate interdepartmental sharing of probationers’ addresses and individual financial account information.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene