Agency that Pursues Deadbeat Parents could Lose Federal Funds

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

The agency that goes after child support-ducking parents in Utah could be in a world of fiscal hurt if the state doesn’t pony up some emergency cash this winter.

The losses, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, stem from changes in the federal Deficit Reduction Act, which make it harder for states to draw down federal dollars without investing some of their own money. Utah’s loss could hit $7.1 million by 2009. And that?s 15 percent of the agency?s budget right there.

The only thing standing between the agency and fiscal ruin is $2.4 million, the bulk of which Utah lawmakers would need to appropriate this year, said Office of Recovery Services director Mark Brasher.

Brasher said without some relief, his agency will have to cut 90 full-time staff, about 25 percent of his workforce.

?About 70 percent of our budget is personnel,” said Brasher.

The agency collected $196 million in child support payments last year and $24 million in Medicaid money that parents who were deemed able to insure their own children were ordered to repay.

The agency’s budget woes follow a probe last year that showed Utah has racked up $325 million in unpaid child support.