PASCO -- People who had neglected their traffic tickets were lined up this week at Franklin County District Court to get in on the final hours of an amnesty.
The "Debt Reduction Program" already had been extended one month, and yet many delinquent payers waited until the very last day to clear their cases without accrued interest and collection costs.
"Tuesday we were slammed past 5. We ran over $6,500," District Court Administrator Kelly Martin said of the money collected on deadline. "Everybody waited until the last minute."
The statewide program geared at helping people in tough economic times and getting them get back on the road legally wrapped up this week, and the Tri-City's two participating courts are pleased with the turnout.
Pasco Municipal Court Administrator Dot French said she thinks a lot of people who otherwise might not have been able to pay their fines took advantage of the reduction.
She also had a number of people at the office counter Tuesday who were told by clerks that if they wanted to free up their driver's license, they should rush over to Washington Collectors in Pasco to pay off their debt before the program ended.
Franklin County District Court and Pasco Municipal Court opted along with about 50 other district and municipal courts across the state to extend the program through June. It initially was just scheduled for May.
Franklin District collected a total of $42,000 -- $19,000 for 58 unpaid tickets in June and $23,000 for 90 tickets in May.
Martin said 73 drivers were able to get their license reinstated by participating in the program and paying off their delinquent accounts.
Her last customer Tuesday paid $1,200 toward four tickets.
"It was definitely successful, that's for sure. It was well worth it," Martin said. "If it's offered in the future, we'll definitely participate. But that doesn't mean don't pay your bills. Don't let it collect up."
A similar event was held in October 2002. Franklin District and Pasco Municipal did not participate then.
Pasco Municipal and Franklin District work with Washington Collectors on tickets that are more than 60 days past due. When a ticket goes to collection, the agency automatically adds 35 percent to the principal amount, plus interest.
As a result of this two-month program, Washington Collectors lost out on a significant amount of money since people only had to pay the principal amount of their outstanding tickets.
Pasco Municipal decided to give 15 percent of the total amount collected through this program to the agency.
In June, the agency collected $14,583 in original citations and criminal non-traffic fines. The court received $12,396 of that.
That amount was paid by 35 people total and applied to 44 cases, French said.
And in May, 57 people paid a total $41,658 toward 85 cases. Of that, Pasco Municipal got $35,420.
The total principal amount collected over two months on Pasco cases was $56,241.
Statewide results are expected later this month.
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