By early next year, the Illinois Comptroller's Office could take over collecting much of the money owed to Tinley Park for parking tickets, permit fees, fines, water bills and other charges.

The Village Board's budget and administration committee last week positioned the issue to come before the full panel of trustees by late December, endorsing participation in the comptroller's Local Debt Recovery Program.

Village Treasurer Brad Bettenhausen reported to the committee that the "optimal time" for the state program to collect outstanding debt is "the first four or five months of the year when income tax returns are filed and refunds processed."

Bettenhausen said stepping up collections would target "older, delinquent obligations that are owed to the village, but have been generally ignored by the individuals and businesses that owe us." In the case of traffic tickets, he said, "many of the old outstanding obligations are individuals who live outside of Tinley Park."

Village Manager Scott Niehaus later estimated the total percentage of affected persons and businesses at 1 percent. Their failure to pay, he said, "is unfair to the majority of people because that's money we don't have and might need to collect from other sources."

Niehaus said Tinley Park would continue to provide three chances to pay outstanding debts, but noted the village adds fees each time the debt isn't paid, putting the debt above the state's minimum threshold.

Signed into law in December, the Local Debt Recovery Program targets Illinois residents and businesses doing business with the state who owe money to participating local governments, school districts and public colleges.

Program software automatically identifies and deducts the money owed from the debtor's state income tax refund, lottery winnings, state-issued paychecks or commercial vendor payments. The state adds a $15 service fee, which is paid by the debtor.

In addition to increasing debt collection, the state program gives participants 100 percent of the money collected on their behalf. Tinley Park currently contracts with an outside agency that keeps 30 percent of the money it collects.

Chicago, Joliet, Orland Park, and Springfield are among the municipalities already participating in the program.

Bettenhausen said Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka's June training seminar in Springfield turned up 21 matches for the village, valued at a total of $1,818. Reporting on the "quite good" results, Bettenhausen predicted that refining the search criteria would produce more matches and money.

Springfield has already collected $25,500 from 779 program matches, he added.

The Local Debt Recovery Program finds a match, deducts the money owed from the state payment and sets it aside in a designated trust fund for 60 days. If the affected person or business hasn't appealed by the end of 60 days, the owed money is transferred to the appropriate public body.

There are some limitations to debt recovery:

* The debt must be at least $50 and less than seven years old,

* The program pays claims by the state and federal governments before paying claims by local public bodies,

* The program handles claims by multiple public bodies against specific individuals and businesses by paying the first claims first and,

* The requested deduction cannot exceed 25 percent of the net amount of the payment.

In addition, several types of money passing through the state treasurer's office are exempt, including payments with a value of accrued vacation, overtime or sick leave; retirement payments; the Senior Circuit Breaker; Secretary of State Fund and Illinois Prepaid Tuition Trust Fund.