State officials review slow debt collection

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 11:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A proposed regulation was unveiled Wednesday that directs state agencies to get tough with deadbeat debtors.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said the administrative rule details the procedures departments should pursue on overdue bills.

"There is no requirement now to call or send a letter to collect the money," he told the state Board of Examiners, which will probably approve the new regulation in January.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, a member of the examiners board, referred to newspaper reports that the state may have lost $60 million in revenue because it failed to follow up in collecting its debts.

"I'm going to get more aggressive," the governor said.

For instance, those who owe money won't be able to get services or contracts from the state until they pay up, he said. In one case, a company owed $24,000 to the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, which was still doing business with it. "We're going to cut them off," Guinn said, meaning until companies pay up.

Guinn mentioned that collections of estate taxes need speeding up. He referred to a legislative audit of the Department of Taxation that showed there were spotty efforts to collect the tax revenue quickly.

The state eventually receives the money but it could be collected months earlier, invested and then generate interest returns for the state.

The proposed policy calls for sending a letter after the account is 30 days delinquent. If there is no payment, another letter is sent within 60 days. There should be other actions, including phone calls, arranging for payment plans, credit reporting and turning over the debt to collection agencies.

A realistic goal is to collect 90 percent of the debts within 30 days, the governor said.

The policy also establishes a procedure to write off bad debts. Guinn complained last month the system for writing off bad debts is cumbersome and expensive. He told o debts as old as 10 years at the Department of Motor Vehicles for such small sums as $50.

It costs more to pursue these late payments than they are worth, he said.

The governor also said he's not satisfied that many of the state's bank checking accounts are not reconciled. But a spokesman for the state controller's office said a program is nearing completion to accomplish this goal.

During the meeting Secretary of State Dean Heller raised the issue of a lack of coordination between state agencies for Internet and computer programs.

"There is no one-shop shopping," said Heller, adding that the public can't go to a single site to get information from state agencies. He suggested it might be easier for Nevada to coordinate its system since there are only 17 counties.

Heller said he met with a private group this week that wants his agency to move faster into technology. The private sector "would give us the technology," to provide more services, he said.

By installing access through the Internet, Heller said, the 1,800 calls a day to his office have been reduced to 500. And employees have increased their production by three and one-half times.

The board asked that Marlene Lockard, director of information technology, appear at the January meeting to explain what's being done. Lockard made a presentation last month, outlining the same problems -- that there are numerous separate systems, each going their own way.

She told Guinn's government study committee there needs to be coordination.