Vermont to Use Collection Agency for Past Due Fines

Vermont^* is the latest state to turn to a collection agency as a cost-saving measure in pursuing past-due fines.

As reported in the Bennington Banner, starting next Tuesday, July 5, “All collections not fully paid within 60 days from the date the fine/fee was imposed will be handled by the AllianceOne collection agency.”

Previously, Vermont would waste resources sending scofflaws to trial, not to mention any arrest or transportation.

The move costs the state nothing. AllianceOne will make its fee off of surcharges attached to existing fines.

^* My favorite story about Vermont comes from the Oneida Community, a religious commune started in Oneida, New York, in 1848 by free-love advocate John Humphrey Noyes.

One of the tenets of the group was an evening process called Mutual Criticism. Each member of the community would stand in front of the others and listen to a litany of infractions — both major and minor — that the others felt had been transgressed by the person currently being criticized.

One man was criticized for his “too frequent mentions of Vermont.” (source, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell)