State steps up efforts to collect past fines

If you've got a traffic ticket and never paid it, you are likely on a list in the district attorneys  restitution recovery unit..

In Calhoun county,  A 20-year list of delinquent payers fills several binders  Some blew off traffic tickets or parking fines while others never paid court-ordered restitution to crime victims; some owe the state for their court-appointed lawyers, which, in Alabama, don't come entirely free of charge.

Next month, court officials say, somewhere between 250 and 500 Calhoun County residents will be summoned to appear in court to pay or appeal their outstanding court fees. The court date, Oct. 2, is already set.

It's part of a state program, called the Restitution Recovery Initiative for Victims in Alabama, designed to help the state with its ongoing budget crunch.

Under the program, a handful of judges have been called out of retirement and are making the rounds of Alabama's judicial circuits. First, notices go out to people with outstanding court debt. If they don't pay the debt immediately, they'll have to appear before a judge and explain why.

The program has been going on for months in other circuits with little publicity, local officials say. And it's being done largely because the court system, and the state, needs money, local officials say.