AllianceOne Scores Municipal Collection Contract

Latah County, Idaho, announced it has hired AllianceOne, an Exton, Pennsylvania-based collection agency, to collect its unpaid fines, fees and court costs related to misdemeanors.

“AllianceOne had the highest performance score based on the criteria we were looking for,” Susan Petersen, elected clerk of the 2nd Judicial District Court, told insideARM.com.  A committee made up of representatives from the sheriffs department, district court administrative office, the prosecutor’s office, a county clerk, and a magistrate judge scored three proposals, according to Petersen. The committee selected AllianceOne on June 13.

The county will place “about 300 accounts to start with,” Petersen said, “and then, about 20 to 30 a month after that.”

AllianceOne will add a 25 percent collection fee to each account, which means Latah County will recover the entire amount collected.

Roughly 20 percent of AllianceOne’s revenues are derived from municipal collection contracts, gathered through a combination of Request For Proposals, bid-provider sites, conferences, and word-of-mouth, according to Renee Linnabary, a senior vice president with the company.  Municipal collections are carried out primarily in AllianceOne’s offices in San Diego and Gig Harbor, Washington. The firm has 14 call centers in the U.S., Canada, and Jamaica.

This is the first time Latah County has worked with a collection agency. The initial contract goes through September 30, 2007, the end of Latah County’s fiscal year, and then will be automatically renewed for fiscal 2008.  Subsequent renewals depend on a performance review by the selection committee.