Personal Injury Law

Dallas County has tried numerous ways to collect overdue fines from misdemeanor offenders, and yet they still owe the county more than $209 million.

But scofflaws' days of skating clear could soon come to an end. Within a matter of weeks, county officials will implement an innovative but little-used program to block offenders' vehicle registrations until they pay their overdue fines.

But not everyone in Dallas County is optimistic that blocking registrations will get people to pay up.

Commissioner John Wiley Price said some people will drive without valid registrations so they can spend their money on utility bills and food. The worsening economy will not help, he said.

A budget crisis has placed new urgency on the county's ability to collect overdue traffic fines. The county anticipates a budget shortfall of at least $24 million this year. Departments are being asked to cut 10 percent of their budgets, and a tax rate increase is considered likely this year because of slumping real estate values. Consequently, more than 751,400 citations in Dallas County have not been paid, according to information released by the county this week. Many date to the 1990s and earlier. "The objective of this is to get them to pay the money they owe," he said of scofflaws.

Unlike most counties, Dallas County gets slightly more than half of its annual revenue from fines and fees. Other counties rely more heavily on property-tax revenue.

Fee-collection efforts are popular because they take the burden off taxpayers. The philosophy is that users of the criminal justice system should help pay for that system.

Dallas County's problem is that its justice of the peace courts have not done a stellar job of collecting traffic fines, according to state statistics. The courts have collected 51 percent of fines and fees ? the third-poorest result out of 37 counties surveyed.